CHECK Magazin - Gesundheitsmagazin für Männer No.4

COMMUNITY
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debate about racism. If you start with yourself,
by acknowledging your own part in it, you can
face yourself and others openly. Then we can
work together to be less racist.“
RACISM MAKES YOU SICK
Such internal discourses are painful because
you make yourself vulnerable and have to rethink
things. But experiencing racism first hand
is actually dangerous in the long run. Numerous
studies suggest that there is a direct link
between racism, disease and even mortality.
It is certainly easier to ignore the whole thing.
But if you hurt people with racism, make them
sick or even contribute to the death of individuals,
this discourse is inevitable.
OUR OWN HISTORY SHOWS
US THE WAY
As a community, we owe it to ourselves to have
this honest discussion. Not least to do justice to
one of our greatest heroes. The sex researcher
Magnus Hirschfeld is considered to be the first
to use the term in his book „Racism“ in 1934.
Hirschfeld‘s aim was to examine and ultimately
refute the racial theories propagated by Hitler
at the time. As a Jew and homosexual, he was
persecuted by the Nazis and beaten up by
members of the Völkisch movement as early as
1920. His Institute for Sexology was destroyed in
1933 and he went into exile in France, where he
died in 1935.
The persecution of homosexuals during
the Holocaust was a direct result of Nazi
racial madness. Homosexuals who were
imprisoned in concentration camps had
to wear a patch with the „pink triangle“
on the left side of the chest on their
prisoners‘ clothing.
It is estimated that around 50,000 men were
convicted of homosexuality during the Nazi era.
Some sources assume that up to 15,000 of them
were deported to concentration camps and
that up to 60 percent of them were murdered
there. Inequality and prejudice are a part of our
history. Fighting solely for our equality is not
enough-- a fight for LGBTQI* equality must also
include a fight for racial equality. (ts)
QUEER MATTERS e.V.
Kurfürstenstraße 31/32, 10785 Berlin
www.queermatters.org
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