In its dual role as a service provider and employer, the city is committed to acceptance and equal opportunities both with regard to its citizens and its own employees. The General Administration and Hospitals Department, which is responsible for the employees of the state capital, and the Department for Individual Equal Opportunities for Women and Men carry the topic into the city society with many activities.
Diversity congress and participation at CSD
As the organizer of the Diversity Congress at City Hall in May, she focused on the wishes and suggestions of the LGBTTIQ community (an association of lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-intersexual and queer groups, associations and initiatives). Last weekend, a good 45 employees of the state capital walked in the Christopher Street Day parade to convey the cause of a tolerant and diverse city.
Recently, the state capital also received rainbow families from Baden-Württemberg for the first time in Stuttgart’s city hall to get a better picture of their current living situation.
How can the city of Stuttgart promote acceptance?
Rainbow families are families in which children live with two same-sex partners as one family. The question that accompanied these events was: “What can the city of Stuttgart do to achieve more acceptance for different life plans and to strengthen families in their diverse forms?” Proposals are currently being developed for the responsible departments to turn these needs into concrete implementations.
Respectful cooperation and open climate
The Mayor for General Administration and Hospitals, Werner Wölfle, welcomed the more than 100 participants at the Rainbow Family Day, as well as the guests from politics. “Stuttgart is a cosmopolitan city. Our claim is a respectful coexistence and an open climate. Stuttgart is a city that places great emphasis on acceptance of different lifestyles.
The diversity of a large city is a sign of its liveliness, creativity and economic development. Adorno put it in a nutshell: appreciating diversity means being able to be different without fear.”
Strengthen commonalities
Wölfle continues: “The city of Stuttgart will increasingly address diversity and tolerance in all training programs, for example for educators. The best way to reduce prejudice is to know about each other, to get to know each other, but also to know and accept our differences and to strengthen the things we have in common. Where the municipality has room for maneuver, framework conditions should therefore also be created that help rainbow families in particular to be perceived, supported and recognized as a valuable part of our society.”
Picking up impulses from other cities
Dr. Ursula Matschke, Head of the Equal Opportunities Department, is grateful for the numerous impulses from the events. When it comes to family diversity, a very central wish from educators is to obtain material and information on the topic of rainbow families. There exists only little founded knowledge about rainbow families in the authorities, in the health service and in the public. Wish and request of the rainbow families is it to be noticed as “completely normal” family form and not to feel constantly the pressure to have to justify itself for its life form.
Rainbow families arise in very different ways, as do families with single parents or so-called patchwork families. “For us, family is where children are, and we want happy children in our city. That’s why we need to strengthen their respective families. Important and good impulses come from other state capitals, which we will take up together with our results and pass on to the decision-makers in city and state politics,” says Matschke, explaining the plan to bring Rainbow Family Day to City Hall.
Becoming visible and making demands clear
Katharina Binder from the state board of the Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) and co-organizer was pleased about the invitation of the Department for Equal Opportunities to jointly organize a first Rainbow Family Day in Stuttgart City Hall. She emphasized how important it was for rainbow families to be seen and visible and to make needs, wishes and demands clear and to be able to pass them on to politicians and administrators.
The first step was learning and making visible, the next step is now to bring the demands and recommendations for action to city politics.