The program of the new BILD TV station dealt with LGBTQI+.
Many readers had already been waiting for this, and now BILD TV, the TV channel for the newspaper, saw the light of day. In a talk show with Thomas Gottschalk, among others, the topic of LGBTQI+ was discussed. And once again it became clear how much opinions seem to diverge here.
In summary, the question was addressed whether members of the LGBTQI+ community might feel neglected or disregarded, who just do not fall into the "grid" "gay" or "lesbian", and therefore are often less mentioned in general language. Often the talk is about "gays and lesbians". Pansexuals, transsexual people and all the others get a little bit forgotten.
Speaking of which: The fact that at least the editor-in-chief of BILD has no problem sticking to old formulations was evident right at the beginning of the discussion. He greeted viewers with a "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, in the station where we still openly say, 'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!'" And thus left no doubt in which direction he was leaning with his own opinion.
The statement of Patricia Riekel in detail
While the inclined viewer still had the impression that Gottschalk at least tried to understand those to whom the "LGBTQI+" is important and rather pushed the topic to the sidelines or only mentioned that he had been confused at the beginning because of the discrimination accusations, but was trying to learn here as well, another participant in the round made a different statement.
The former head of "BUNTE", Patricia Riekel, explained that they "don'twant tobe terrorized by minorities". She was referring to the fact that many people belong to the LGBTQI+ community, are precisely not "gay" or "lesbian" but, for example, asexual or non-binary, but still want to be mentioned. She criticized that nowadays it is more about minorities than about the general public.
Riekel received approval, among others, from Nena Schink, editor of BILD TV. She wondered whether naming the groups individually would not have the opposite effect - meaning (probably) that the groups in question would then be even more marginalized.
Jürgen Trittin stands up for "LGBTQI+
One man who openly advocated in the BILD TV discussion round to become a bit more sensitive in the general use of language and to actually consider all people as much as possible is Jürgen Trittin.
He explained how important it is not to exclude anyone through language or the choice of words and thus probably spoke from the heart of many people.
When asked about the fact that Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet was recently criticized for speaking "only" of "gays and lesbians," he said that he was not accusing Laschet of any malicious intent here, but that the wording had been imprecise.
How queer-hostile were the BILD editor-in-chief's statements?
This is exactly what the community is currently speculating about in the social networks. Many queers are of the opinion that BILD editor-in-chief Reichelt did not cut a good figure at the BILD TV Talk.
One statement that particularly resonated in this context was that it was actually possible to dismiss the discussion as "absurd," but that it was "one of the moving issues" of the current era.
Unfortunately, many questions remained unanswered during the BILD TV talk about gender, LGBTQI+ and other issues. Perhaps this was also because there was no one as a guest who stood up for his views as vehemently as Riekel and Reichert. The discussion would probably have been different on a different platform - with different guests and a broader spectrum of opinions.
Gays are now also finally allowed to donate blood in Israel.