anti-discrimination
is a big topic

We help you understand what discrimination means and what you can do about it.

PS: It's not up to you and you're right(s).

We are not satisfied with this site yet. Changes will follow soon.

Paul (PAQ Team)

Looking away, being silent and doing nothing are not neutral. Not intervening has the consequence that discrimination is normalized and trivialized and thus assumed to be “natural”.

How do I recognize discrimination

Trigger warning: Examples of violence and psychological consequences are given.

Discrimination means disadvantage, devaluation or exclusion based on a characteristic such as sexuality, gender, age, origin, appearance and many more. 

You feel discrimination through suffering, fear of sharing something of yourself, not being welcome, the feeling of having to pretend or not being good enough, self-rejection, being "different", not belonging, not being able to be honest, not understood to become sadness and anger.

Open explicit discrimination

These are insults, foreign outings, exclusion, non-perception, for example "there are only two genders", "bisexuals just haven't decided yet", "it's just a phase" and queer-negative "jokes".

Hidden implied discrimination

Implicit discrimination is the most common form because it exists as ideas and prejudices in people's minds. Even queer people who have been/are socialized in a cis-heteronormative society develop queer-negative beliefs like: "I'm not okay." "My sexuality is wrong/ worse than other sexualities." This self-rejection is the reason that some queer people also have an anti-queer phase.
Above all, it is the reason to pretend and play a role that society expects. That's understandable and explains why we don't come out as children right away. Breaking down inner beliefs and facing instilled shame with pride and self-confidence takes time. Counseling centers such as comingoutundso.de and queer meeting places such as Anyway, rubicon, iJuLa and PAQT help with this.

Examples of implicit discrimination are the reinforcement of negative associations "you don't seem so gay", "I didn't expect it from you", "the CSD is exaggerated", denying/delegitimizing and not recognizing discrimination "don't face it like that", "you're not being discriminated against anymore", "are you sure that you are trans*?", "we really don't need a rainbow flag", as well as: funny looks, ideas of "homosexuals don't like sports", "Lesbians have short hair" and much more.

Physical consequences

Being excluded from a group activates the same neurological center as cutting your finger. Discrimination activates the brain's pain center and is therefore psychophysical violence.
The minority stress model addresses the effects of implicit discrimination:
Through microaggressions/constant discrimination, queer people develop hypervigilance and constant fear of being rejected. The constantly increased stress level is reflected in the nerve tracts like a trauma.
Devaluation, delegitimation and insults add up and increase self-esteem, depression, heart attacks, eating disorders, drug addiction and suicide.
That's why queer activism is about protecting human lives.

Queerophobia is an attack on human dignity. Unfortunately, the state does not protect enough against this.
Queerphobia is social bullying. There are not only perpetrators, but also followers.
Queerophobia is psychological abuse. The feelings and perspectives of those affected are most important.

The protection of human dignity is non-negotiable.

Don't get into arguments about your sexual or gender identity. You don't have to compromise to spare unsensitized people. The tolerance of your being is not a high requirement, but the minimum.

advanced
information

We are constantly writing and collecting new texts on the subject of anti-discrimination. You can find these on our community page.

Institutional Discrimination

The biggest carrier of discrimination in Germany is the Catholic Church. A federal study from 2017 shows that discrimination in church institutions is twice as high in almost all areas as in other institutions. This is due, among other things, to statements by the popes (explicit discrimination), as well as to the denial of access on the basis of gender and sexuality (trans* men and women are not allowed to become priests, homosexual couples are not allowed to marry).

Structural Discrimination

Implicit discrimination that has become so "normal" over the decades that many don't realize how bad it is: eg, "gay" being used as a swear word in schools; that queer people need to "come out" because people are assumed to be non-queer; that schools do not provide information about trans* and inter*; that children's films and commercials only show heterosexual couples; that children are given gender-binary names.

laws

The General Equal Treatment Act (AGG)
The law contains obligations for employers. The entire application process must be non-discriminatory. In existing employment relationships, employees are entitled to protection against discrimination. A complaints office for discrimination must be set up in all companies. In addition, they are obliged to take action (warning, dismissal) against employees who discriminate against colleagues. The anti-discrimination protection of the General Equal Treatment Act also applies to everyday transactions such as shopping, insurance and banking transactions and visits to restaurants or clubs.

Basic Law §3
(1) All people are equal before the law. (3) No one may be disadvantaged or given preferential treatment because of their sex, their descent, their race, their language, their homeland and origin, their faith, or their religious or political views. Nobody may be disadvantaged because of his disability.
At PAQT, we are committed to expanding paragraph 3(3) to include sexuality and gender identity. (In addition, "race" should be deleted because it reproduces the false differences between ethnic groups.)

The general right of personality
In civil law, for example, this includes public misgendering, which is a serious encroachment on human dignity and personal development.
In the same way, outing someone else is a violation of personality and is punishable if the person a) keeps their sexual/gender identity secret in public or b) has a queer-hostile environment and experiences a sensitive disparagement in the eyes of their fellow human beings as a result of the outing.
Crimes based on characteristics such as sexuality/gender are considered hate crimes and are particularly serious.

Show queer hostility
2/3 of all anti-queer assaults go unreported. The most common reason is that the attack is not classified as so bad or you don't think you are worth the excitement, a fear of insensitive police, feeling stressed by bureaucracy or reactivation of the crime. Ads against queer hostility are important to set boundaries, to draw attention to abuse and to experience empowerment (I won't put up with it, I'm right, I protect my dignity). It is therefore best to contact queer-sensitive legal advice centers: LSVD, ALICE, Regenbogenportal.

activism

After we queer people were ashamed of ourselves enough in childhood, we are convinced that we ourselves are responsible for the fact that there is a good opinion of queer people: That is why many queer people make an effort and try, especially at school and university to make up for the "disappointment of society".
It's like bullying a kid at school and then saying afterwards: You have to prove to us now why the bullying against you was wrong. In the end, the people who experienced the emotional hurt are also the ones who have to take action against it, because the actual perpetrators or followers don’t take any responsibility.
In short: It is actually not the task of people who have been discriminated against to come to terms with the discrimination in society. They do it because they are suffering.

Why churches need rainbow flags

The popes long ago started making an exclusion into normativity with statements like homosexuality is a disease, a crime, a sin that has become more widespread (and still used for discrimination). Over time, every church house was erected with a large flag that only queer people could see. The flag said: "You are NOT welcome here". In the meantime, some organizations have started to hang up this flag with one: "You are welcome!" and some organizations still have the not-welcome flag hanging on their walls to this day. Hanging that not-welcome flag there is not a question of guilt, but it is undoubtedly a question of responsibility for leaving it there. It's difficult to draw attention to because straight Catholics can't see the no-welcome flags. They believe that queer people are not uninvited because they themselves do not experience discrimination and ignore derogatory messages.
The fact is: queer people were actively excluded from the church and also need their own invitation in order to be included again. A sign of this welcome culture is the rainbow flag.

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