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The two petitions on queer issues in schools caused heated discussions in Luxembourg's parliament. Disinformation and old prejudices are being used to create an atmosphere - but there is also a strong sign of solidarity.
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"Wéi der wësst, et gi just zwee Geschlechter" (As you know, there are only two sexes/genders). It is the first sentence that petition co-author Steve Schmitz speaks into the parliamentary microphone on Tuesday morning. Schmitz is a former ADR member and left the party ahead of the 2023 Chamber elections after accusing the party of being excluded from the electoral list in the northern district. He then founded the Biergerpartei Lëtzebuerg with other ex-ADR members, of which he is now president. The self-confidence with which he will reveal more than one piece of false information to the MPs in his interventions in parliament is remarkable. But it is not really surprising. Just a week earlier, the most powerful man in the world, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, said the same words to the whole world in his inauguration speech. They have become socially acceptable. Whether it's true or not doesn't matter.
The sex/gender issue
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The assertion that there are only two genders is problematic because it denies scientific facts and the realities of many people's lives. Biology does indeed usually speak of two sexes, but even on a biological level there are intersex people who do not fit into the binary model. For socio-political issues, however, biological sex plays no role. Here we need to talk about gender, i.e. the complex interplay of physical, social and psychological aspects. Scientific studies have long shown that the simple model of "male or female" does not apply to all people in this context. More detailed information can be found here.
Marc Gerges, who had submitted the counter-petition, wondered at the beginning of his intervention how it must feel for people who identify as queer when a petition is submitted that denies their own existence. Watching the discussion in Parliament, I wondered how it must feel to be queer and to hear the statements made in the House of Representatives. Suicide statistics speak for themselves. International research shows that queer young people worldwide are already four to six times more likely to attempt suicide than others.
Steve Schmitz quoted the Journal 's last editorial on the petition, in which I wrote that "the act itself of signing this petition is very much homophobic and anti-trans, whether you realise it or not". Schmitz vehemently rejected this. He says he is neither of these, after all, he had "people like that" in his circle of friends and family, as he repeatedly referred to queer people. That sounds suspiciously like the classic argument: "I'm not racist, I have a black friend." Andy Schammo explains why this doesn't work in his video chronicle.
Towards the end of the discussion, Steve Schmitz's argument reaches its climax. "I don't remember any people being attacked in such a way that anything bad happened, " he says. The commotion is clearly audible in the background and some of the delegates are shaking their heads. "It can't be that the bad guys are the straight ones." A little later, Marc Baum (déi Lénk) describes these statements as "intolerable", especially 80 years and one day after the liberation of Auschwitz. Tens of thousands of men were imprisoned in concentration camps under the Nazi regime because of their sexuality. They usually had to wear a pink square on their prisoner clothing, which labelled them as homosexual according to the classification system.
"The vast majority of Luxembourgish MPs believe that queer issues are part of our society and therefore also belong in schools."
Schmitz also argued that Freddie Mercury and Sir Elton John are examples from history that show that queer people have always been accepted and that they have never been discriminated against. "That has never happened." Sir Elton John would certainly disagree. In an interview with Variety, he said: "If you're unhappy at home, leave. Don't let anyone torment you about your homosexuality or your sexuality."
For her part, Francine Closener, the president of the petition committee, pushed back against Schmitz: "You made a lot of allegations and didn't really answer questions. Vill Meenung, wéineg Anung." There is no better way to put it in a nutshell.
But there is also a positive side to this debate: the MPs have taken a clear stance. With the exception of the ADR representatives, there is a cross-party consensus: The vast majority of Luxembourg MPs believe that queer issues belong in our society and therefore also in schools, and that no one should be excluded from our society because of their sexual orientation. More than 10,000 people have signed the counter-petition, which says exactly that. I wish all people – whether queer or ally (i.e. people who actively campaign for the rights and visibility of a marginalised group without being part of that group themselves) – the self-confidence of Steve Schmitz when it comes to defending human rights and values such as respect, acceptance and equality in these times.