#OutInChurch Leader Describes Origins of the Movement

A leader of the #OutInChurch movement in Germany , recently gave an interview to Hamburg’s Abendblatt newspaper where he talked about the challenges and successes of the Catholic LGBTQ+ network, as well as his own difficulties coming out. 

Jens Ehebrecht-Zumsande

, currently a church consultant, said that #OutInChurch began in January 2022, when more than 100 LGBTQ+ Catholic employees in Germany—including priests, pastoral workers, and other lay ministers—came forward publicly to demand an end to discrimination in the church based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Ehebrecht-Zumsande described the experience of organizing the LGBTQ+ Catholic workers, saying that he was inspired by an earlier action organized by theater professionals::

“185 actors came out as lesbian, bi, gay, trans, intersex, or queer in [a statement published in] the SZ-Magazin. I was electrified. Brilliant! I photographed the cover and shared it on social media along with the text. We need something like this in the Catholic Church, too. . . .

“. . . A little later, I looked at my phone. There were a lot of responses and initial commitments to participate in a potential campaign at the church.”

He organized a Zoom conversation with a group of 80 LGBTQ+ Catholics in church jobs  Fear, he said, ruled the first meeting:

“Half of the ’tiles’ on the screen were black and without names. This is how the campaign theme was born: “OutInChurch – For a Church Without Fear…We all have to deal with this fear. My encouraging motto therefore was ‘Feel the fear – and do it anyway!’  That was my mantra. In this way, we encouraged one another – with the result that more and more of us showed our faces on camera.”

The #OutInChurch logo, with the slogan “For a Church Without Fear”

Ehebrecht-Zumsande said his own personal experience as someone coming out while working for the church helped him understand the fear others still experienced:

“In the 1980s and early 1990s, I didn’t know anyone in my circle who was openly gay. Back then, it wasn’t talked about.I was afraid of losing my job [as a parish minister] if I came out.”

Coming out was a slow process, but courage eventually built up in him, even in the face of many dangers:

“As long as the [hetrosexual] norms remain as they are, you’re under pressure to explain yourself. As my homosexuality became more visible, so did more verbal attacks, threats, and even denunciations to the bishop. I was denounced more often, and the bishop asked me not to be seen in public with men. But I couldn’t do that. Then I was supposed to be transferred to a position in a small town. To this day, I don’t know where that courage came from: I told the HR manager: I won’t be blackmailed, and I’m not going there. And whether I’m gay or not – that’s none of your business. In the end, the transfer didn’t happen. Wherever this ‘fit of courage’ came from, it was an empowering moment!”

When asked if “OutInChurch” had any tangible effect, he answered:

“We contributed to the amendment of Catholic labor law. In November 2022, at the plenary assembly of the Association of Dioceses in Germany, the German bishops adopted an amended basic order for church service, according to which the ‘core area of ​​private life, especially relationships and intimate spheres,’ is exempt from legal evaluation, and marital status and relationships are of no legal significance in the hiring or termination of church employees. Neither voluntarily coming out as a bisexual/homosexual employee, nor entering into a same-sex marriage at the registry office, nor remarriage after divorce are an obstacle to employment or grounds for termination under labor law.”

Archbishop Stefan Heße

OutInChurch also inspired a documentary film made about the movement, titled “How God Created Us.” 125 Catholics came out in the documentary, and Ehebrecht-Zumsande had to warn his boss, the Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Heße before the film’s release. Upon release the archbishop released the following statement:

“I have respect for the people who are revealing their sexual orientation in this campaign. In my opinion, a church in which you have to hide because of your sexual orientation cannot be in the spirit of Jesus.”

The final question asked was if his faith was a help to him.  He responded: 

“Absolutely. The phrase ‘Do not be afraid’ appears 365 times in the Bible. That gives you a certain serenity to overcome your own fear. My experience with OutInChurch is that you have to take this fear of coming out publicly seriously; it’s justified. You could be fired or no longer be allowed to work as a priest; those were legitimate concerns. There were several Zoom conferences about precisely this fear. We faced the fear, didn’t avoid it, we stand together. Some said, ‘I can’t do this and I’m leaving.’ We also sought advice from labor lawyers and found many people from Catholic associations who supported us. So we took action. Our courage paid off, as we mobilized tens of thousands of people who initially had nothing to do with the issue.”

Ehebrecht-Zumsande said that he gained even more courage from the many people who came out in the documentary film, noting that courage is built by sharing with other people:

“The oldest [person in the film] was over 80 years old. Among them were priests. That’s when I realized once again how much courage it takes for the individual. Courage requires solidarity, support, and alliance with others; that’s what I learned from it. Alone, you are at the mercy of the situation. Courage grows when you realize: I’m not alone.”

 —Elsie Carson-Holt and Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, May 24, 2025

To learn more about LGBTQ+ people working in Catholic spaces, check out New Ways Ministry’s latest publication, Cornerstones: Sacred Stories of LGBTQ+ Employees in Catholic Institutions. The book is an anthology of 12 stories of faith, sacrifice, joy, and pain by LGBTQ+ people who have been employed by Catholic parishes and schools. For more information, click here.