The Brat's Princess

Also I like your dog he’s cute.

If there is a God who made you, they made you love who you love.

It is true that the Book of Leviticus tells us that men who lie with other men need to be put to death, but it says the same thing about men who have sex with women while they're having their periods. I don't know if this helps at all.

But mostly what I'd say is, you need friends, you need a support network, and you need people you can talk to and be safe around. Some of those people you may find online -- and a good place to start might be

Cheat Sheet Against the Spiritual Abuse of the LGBTQ+ Community

(if you’re using the bible to hurt people you’re using it wrong)

What is spiritual abuse?

Spiritual abuse is the mistreatment of a person with the result of weakening, undermining, or decreasing that person’s spiritual empowerment and/or freedom of religion. Abusive believers develop a “good or evil” mentality and put themselves in the good corner. They believe that following their interpretation of their sacred text (the Bible, the Qur’an…) is mandatory. Everyone who doesn’t agree with them is automatically evil (“sinful”) and needs their guidance. Those people are convinced that our gender and sexual identities are “sinful” and “unhealthy” and we need to be “saved” and “healed” from them. This is of course morally and scientifically wrong. Abusive believers are so dangerous because they claim that their attempt to “save” and “heal” us stems from a position of love and altruism. Therefore, they are not aware of the grave wounds they inflict or that their behavior is abusive.

This leads to a dangerous righteousness that doesn’t allow room for other opinions, including other spiritualities or atheism.

Why should I care?

The first amendment of the Constitution guarantees freedom of (and from!) religion. Therefore, spiritual abuse is in clear violation of the principle of religious freedom. The most vulnerable victims are young LGBTQ+ people who are not yet secure in their sexual, gender, or spiritual identities. LGB youth are almost five times as likely to attempt suicide before the age of 25. So even if you are not religious, you still have a responsibility towards your LGBTQ+ siblings and should therefore be informed about spiritual abuse and how to debunk it. Here in the US we are mostly confronted with abusive Christians. That’s why this pamphlet focuses on the Bible.

The Bible and the LGBTQ+ Community

In Bible study, context is everything!, Who wrote what, when, for whom, and why? What about originional languages, cultural and doctrinal context? Scripture cannot mean now what it did not mean then and it only settles matters about which it speaks plainly.

The word “homosexual” referring to a person’s inborn and natural desire to enter into a loving, respectful, and sexual relationship with another consenting person of the same sex was invented and published in 1869. The word can be found in the bible for the first time in 1946. Any appearance of the word “homosexual” in the Bible is therefore a mistranslation. Homosexuality always existed, the concept of it being natural natural and inborn didn’t.

a) The Story of Sodom (Genesis 19: 1-11)

The sin of Sodom according to Ezekiel 16:49; Arrogant, overfed and unconcerned. They did not help the poor and needy.

In Biblical times hospitality was crucial for survival and therefore not just cultural custom but law. The most brutal violation of that law was attempted gang rape of male guests (disguised angels in this story). A similar story can be found in Judges 19.

The sin of Sodom according to Jude 1:7; People were immoral and went after strange (Greek: heteras = different) flesh. The beings most different from humans are angels. If that passage referred to same sex intercourse, the Greek word used would be homo = same.

Besides, in the story the decision to destroy Sodom was made before the angels arrived there, so logically the transgression that led to the destruction must have already happened.

b) Don’t lie with a man as with a woman… (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13)

Leviticus is full of ritualistic, legal, and moral practices (not beliefs!). It’s goal is to differentiate between pure/impure (=Jewish/not Jewish).

Leviticus 18: 2-3 state that the following rules are meant to prevent the Israelites from doing as the Canaanites and Egyptians. So, these laws were written for certain people in certain circumstances and cannot be generalized. Actually, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 forbid worshipping other gods. Sacred prostitution was part of the religious expression of those neighboring peoples and included male/male intercourse. Therefore, it had to be mentioned and forbidden several other times in the Old Testament (1 Kings 14:24, Deut. 23:17-18).

c) Natural/Unnatural relations (Romans 1:24-27)

Romans is a letter written by Paul to the congregation in Rome. Letters are highly subjective. In the original Greek Paul uses the expression para physin (=out of the ordinary, unusual) that is usually translated as unnatural. In 1 Cor. 11:14 he uses it to describe men with long hair, in Romans 11:24 positive actions by God. The word that describes that “natural relations” were left behind is aphentes (=neglect, abandon). The people mentioned in this passage “abandoned” (aphentes) their original desires and engaged in same sex intercourse. Therefore, it is safe to assume that their original desires were aimed at the opposite sex. Rome was a melting pot for all kinds of cultures and religions. Romans 1:21-24 refers negatively to people who worship other gods. Therefore, this passage ties in with the law against sacred prostitution in Leviticus that Paul certainly knew about.

d) Lost in Translation (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10)

These two passages are also from letters written by Paul. Three words appear in the original Greek that often mistreated in a way that make them look anti-LGB:

Malakoi: from malakos meaning soft, cowardly, weak, as shown in its use outside of the Bible. In early translations it is often very well translated as cowards or weaklings, not homosexuals.

Arsenokoitai: Made up by Paul, inspired by the Greek version of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (arsenikos=male, koite=bed). Therefore, it is safe to assume that the meaning is the same as in Leviticus.

Pornoi: Stems from the Greek word porneuo meaning “to sell”. Refers to male prostitutes who were often young men or boys. Sexual abuse and exploitation of them through prostitution has nothing to do with two consenting people in a loving and respectful relationship.

The Greek language knew more than fifteen expressions for same sex intercourse, or love. Yet none of those words were used in the New Testament. Therefore, it is safe to assume that it doesn’t speak about homosexuality at all.

e) The Bible and the Trans-Community

Several passages from the Bible are used to condemn the trans community. Each of them is applied wrongly.

1) Don’t wear clothes of the opposite sex. (Deut. 22:5); More than a mere fashion statement! In other religions people were sometimes required to worship clothed in the attire of the opposite sex. This passage forbids worshipping other gods.

2) “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.” (Deut. 23:1); Does that include any men who suffered injury to the pelvic region? By the way, Deut. 23:2 also excludes from “the assembly of the Lord” children who were born out of wedlock – do we then ask people who want to join a church to provide the marriage certificates of their ancestors? The ones cherry-picking here are those who condemn the trans community.

3) We are created as men and women. (1 Gen 27); The writers of the Bible did not understand that there is a difference between sex and gender. Therefore, they simply identified a person by their genitals. Today we know better; Appearance does not determine gender, sometimes not even sex! This is scientific fact.

f) So, we are not in the Bible at all? Well…

The most famous (among several) scripture passage that most likely mentions a same sex relationship is the story of David and Jonathan. It says “the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David.” (1 Samuel 18:1) “Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul.” (1 Sam 18:3). Once David had found out that Jonathan had died he said: “I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother, you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.” (2 Sam 1:26).

Conclusion

Homosexuality is not condemned in Scripture at all. Therefore, marriage equality is not unbiblical. People who use the Bible to condemn our sexual and gender identities do so because they don’t know better. That is not an excuse. It does however show that the people who believe that we are “sinful” are gravely misinformed about their own sacred text and therefore hold absolutely no moral authority over us. Because of their abusive righteousness they are unable to understand that, or to see the damage they inflict.

We are good and right the way we are.

Never doubt that your identity matters!

Never doubt that Love is Love!

Till as an artist is very important to me - he has been both an inspiration and a support. That being said, I am running out of excuses for him and myself in light of recent allegations, and it's taking a toll on my mental health. I feel ridiculous and dirty. My question to you is, how are you coping with the recent news? How can I process this?

Hello my dear!

Thank you for coming to me with your worries. Talking about them is a brave thing to do, trying to solve that conflict inside of you even more so.

You ask me how I deal. Well, I'm happy to share my very own opinion. So this is not to be taken as advice, or criticism of people who have different opinions.

Here we go. Bear with me. This is long.

I'm 39 years old now and a teacher. I grew up in Germany, in a non-religious household, with parents who were scientists. I grew up swimming naked in lakes from childhood to adulthood, or visiting textile free saunas and beaches. I grew up not associating nakedness with sex but just a comfortable, easygoing togetherness. Drinking was always part of growing up here. I had my first sips of beer when I was four. It's part of the culture. I spent whole weekends as a 15 to 18 years old girl camping out on lakes skinny dipping, with campfires and some boys with guitars and motorcycles. Good times.

I've been a fan of Rammstein since 1996 when I was 12. This band helped me to unearth, deal with and heal a lot of darkness inside of me. The song "Tier" for example helped me to understand that what my father did to me was truly and absolutely wrong.

Then I began to visit concerts. It was 1999 and everything was a lot smaller. I was 15 then and my mother trusted me with that band. I drew so much strength from them and found amazing friends among the fans.

In 2004, when I was 20, I met Till for the first time. A shy, awkward giant who loosened up quickly and thoroughly when he drank. Then he liked to hug girls, snuggle up against them, ask them to sit on his lap, give them little kisses. He liked boobs. Liked to lay his cheek against them and close his eyes. I remember, he was 41 back then and I thought he looked like a boy just looking for comfort.

I met him two more times at aftershow parties, 2013 and 2022. The age gap between him and some girls got bigger. At some point I and a few others were 20 years or more older than those. I noticed that I and the women my age, had started to lose this natural, easy understanding we used to have with other women. The age gap was getting too big. Those women were different. They had different ideas about consent, different ideas about intimacy, about alcohol, about men in general. And while the others and me were aware of that, Till wasn't really. He treated the women the same, no matter if it was 2004 or 2022. If anything he got a little less touchy and macho-y over the years even when we was pretty drunk.

But other than that, whether it was during aftershow parties or in hotels (I used to take a room in the band's hotel every now and then and met him there), he was still the goofy, touchy man who I had met in 2004. He always liked to touch people and I always liked to be touched (and touch others). His jokes were often terribly inappropriate or sexual in nature. I found them funny. My humour has always been in the gutter anyway. I never had s*x with him, I never got super drunk around him, I never felt unsafe in his company.

This is the man I have met several times during the last 19 years. When I compare his attitude and his behavior during the years with what I consider okay, fun or risky (the good kind) with what women 20 years younger than me think of the same things, there is a lot of disagreement. I am not saying women are "oversensitive" or "playing the victim". Not at all. I'm also not saying that women my age and older who met him 20+ years ago were "easier victims" or "didn't know about consent". I am however saying that the culture has changed and he hasn't.

So is it possible that he did or tolerated things that people with a different background than his find unacceptable or even abusive. It's very much possible. But I think the root of that is that he is not in touch with people that young anymore. He doesn't understand them anymore. But from my experience he is a kind, funny, lovable bear.

Bear hugs can be rough, yes. But I have also always found comfort and safety in them.

Here's the video link.

"The third concert in Munich, I don't really know what to say anymore. We are incredibly grateful that you are here. Thank you, we thank you"