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She supports the idea of a gay football player coming out but not giving same sex couples the same tax breaks etc as their heterosexual counterparts! Strange woman
She’s a hypocrite, she is indeed a very strange woman.
She sounds like a Tory version of Gillard.
It is not strange. People are not robots. THey do not hold perfectly integrated systems of thought and philosophy. People are bundles of contradictions and messy compromises. As are you in your own way.
In any event, her public support on this can be only a good thing.
I guess I should be happy that Merkel has said this but somehow when it comes from leaders like this ,who are still so set against not giving equal rights to LGBT people , it just sounds hollow and insincere.
F*** off Merkel, you disgusting bigot.
Your ‘support’ is utterly meaningless and irrelevant seeing as you support legal discrimination against same sex couples when it comes to tax, adoption and marriage.
Berlin wasn’t built in a day.
For all their modern democratic politics, Germany is still a very staunchly Catholic country and these things take time to work themselves out.
Give the woman some credit for standing up.
a very staunchly Catholic country
That night come as a bit of a surprise to the 70% of the German population that is not Catholic!
They may not be practising Catholics, but nonetheless, they still have that strong Christian ethos. I know, I lived there for long enough.
I’ve read 60%. Most of the rest are lutherans, who are responsible for nordic countries all having marriage equality. (Finland is not considered nordic since its language is related to Indo – altaic – MOngolian of the Ghengis Kahn hoards
Whom pope Bennie must worship.
It’s only the southern half that is Catholic, Bavaria and parts of Baden-Wurttemberg. Merkel is a member of the Christian Democratic Union.
Yes, besides, her father was a vicar, if she did not convert that means she would still be Protestant. And the former head of the German Protestant churches was rather liberal in her views. But there are different Protestant (and Catholic) churches; in my hometown (far south, population ca. 200,000), we have at least 8 different Christian Churches (not buildings, but denominations).
Anyway, most CDU members, whether Protestant or Catholic are just horribly conservative or discriminating in their views… I’m really rather surprised she said anything on the matter.
Spain and Portugal are staunchly catholic countries.
Berlin is a predominantly protestant country.
Berlin is not a country.
Berlin is a city.
;)
There is a strong Catholic influence in the South, but even the North is pretty devout, and the Protestant church also holds a lot of sway too.
spain nd protutgal have marriage equality.
Once solidly Catholic france by end of the year.
Apparently the UK is also regarded as a staunchly “Christian” country but we all know that most of the churches are empty on Sunday. Have you visited any churches in Germany on a Sunday?
No, but more to the point, I have never visited a supermarket on a Sunday, because they are all shut, unlike the UK.
I was once chastised for hoovering on a Sunday because the neighbours might hear it.
yep, and you shouldn’t put your washing on the line in th garden or mow your lawn. That’s just custom, though… like taking your hat off indoors… nowadays at least.
@Anne:
No, it’s rather more than that I’m afraid.
Go to any German church and you will find a packed congregation, unlike the UK. Seriously, how far do you think a “Christian Democrat” party would last here?
Germany is an overwhelmingly Protestant country. Where do you get your information?
Youve got to give people an out over their embarrassent of having been wrong in the past.
Cheers for her – the gate to her mind is opening. Some btw think that when france gets (he he he RATZI) marriage equality by years end, the pressure on Germany for the same will be tremendous.
Meaningless drivel, double standards, upholder of discrimination. If she really believes what she is saying then she’s delusional into the bargain.
“Know that they live in a land where they have nothing to fear”… do they? really?
“We need to send out a clear message: you must not be afraid”… Well send it already, it can’t be that hard. It is not lack of courage that prevents people from coming out, institutionalised discrimination on the other hand… And yes, Germany is a much better country for LGBT people than others, but there are still many major senseless legal roadblocks placed on LGBT people in there!
Why on earth would any player want to paint a target on his chest?
Because it’s infinitely better than constantly living a lie?
We all potentially paint targets on our chests when we come out, yet we still do it. Other sportspeople or those in the public eye also paint on their targets in preference to living in fear. The majority of football fans would be supportive, I’m certain of that. Nobody should hide themselves from the world because of the few idiots who might temporarily be problematic.
As for a more or less secular country of Martin Luther with a Protestant majority, Catholic Church in Germany have very big, too big influence in the public and political life. Small example from recent days – on Wednesday was Ms. Merkel, a daughter of Protestant pastor from the East Germany, on the traditional ‘Michaelistag’, St. Michael Meeting with German Catholic Bishops (and this year with the Austrian Cardinal from Vienna too). I don`t know, about what exactly was spoken at this meeting, but its not difficult to imagine: Church role in the German society, his moral leadership, important social and political issues etc.,etc. And its not just because of the present Pope from Bavaria. The present German state construction is a legacy from times of two German states with strong preference to the Western ‘origin’: Gods name in the Constitution of 1949 (and in the Constitutions of some federal states too – like Bavaria or North Rhin-Vestfalia), no separation between Church and
of Konrad Adenauer party. Plus intolerant Turkish community, difficulties of reunification and ‘We are The Pope’ clerical euphoria, present in the right and boulevard media until today. Not easy salad for the German gay rights movement. Same-sex marriage? Next year we will have very important decisions in the Constitutional Court on tax equality, and more later – on gay adoption too. But even then I see no chances for same-sex marriage in Germany until victory of the left coalition in the elections. Maybe 2018 or so.
…Eastern European, Protestant and even secular, but a not very big part of German conservative political elite still live and make decisions as a very vocal minority in the terrible clerical tradition of Konrad Adenauer party…
We thought PN reported late August that Angela Merkel says no to equal tax laws for LGBT couples, so it seems to us double jeopardy to tell Gay footballers to ‘come out’ and then say that ‘tax breaks’ are only for hetrosexual couples having special privilege, because homosexual couples cannot produce children. Sounds odd to us !
just a comment on the translation. She said, “you don’t have to be scared” NOT “you must not be scared”.
I wish you would get reliable translators. That was an elementary mistake.
Correct: it should be “you need not be afraid.”
Another mistake: “anyone who sums up the strength” should be “anyone who summons up the strength.”
We got the gist of it, though. And good for Angela. She still needs to realise that equality also means equal marriage and equal tax etc. treatment for LGBT couples: but Rome wasn’t built in a day.
They probably just used google translate. I doubt they paid for a translation.
I don’t like the way that the writer has phrased the last paragraph which has a subtext of belittling what Clarke Carlisle said.
Mr Carlisle is also erroneously credited solely as ‘York City FC Player’ when he is in fact Chairman of the Management Committee of the Professional Footballers Association (and would have made his comments in that capacity).
Aside from anything else, he’s made it very clear on many occasions that he is fully supportive of Gay players and the pressing need for Equality both in the game and outside of it – Scott Roberts does a disservice to Carlisle’s record by reporting it in this way.