Berlin: First mosque in Germany hoists rainbow flag
Berlin
“Love is Halal”: First mosque in Germany hoists rainbow flag and supports LGBT community
In Berlin, the Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque decorated its facade with a rainbow flag in the run-up to Christopher Street Day.
The Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque in central Berlin’s Moabit district unfurled a rainbow flag on its building on Friday before Friday prayers. According to the AFP news agency, Berlin’s Senator for Culture, Klaus Lederer, was among the guests present.
Many of those present wore rainbow stickers with the inscription “Love is Halal”. The mosque, founded five years ago, is Germany’s only self-proclaimed liberal mosque and enables men and women to pray together. They are open to queer believers.
Mosque as a safe place for people who are “different”.
Mo El-Ketab, one of six imams at the mosque, told AFP he wanted it to provide a “safe place for people who are different, so they too can experience the spiritual side of their lives.”
Two major events supporting the LGBT community are taking place in Berlin this month, namely the Lesbian and Gay Festival on July 16th and 17th and Christopher Street Day (CSD) on July 23rd.
CSD board member Marc-Eric Lehmann told AFP the raising of the flag was “an incredible sign” and that finding a place for religion in LGBT communities was “really important”. “We shouldn’t just be talking about safe spaces in Berlin’s bars and clubs, we should also be talking about safe spaces in places of worship,” he added.
In many places, the CSD is reminiscent of events in New York in 1969: At that time, police officers stormed a bar on Christopher Street and broke up a riot by gays, lesbians and transsexuals. In the meantime, CSD parades are taking place on various weekends in numerous German and international cities.
Sources: France24AFP