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Theatre in Stralsund: »Unfortunate choice of words«
Photograph:
Jens Koehler / IMAGO
Much of the incident, which took place on the evening of June 1 at the Philharmonic concert in the theater in Stralsund, is likely to be considered certain: Several visitors complained about a lesbian couple kissing during the performance. A theatre employee intervened and kept order. However, not by reminding the complainants of tolerance and decency – but by ensuring that the kissing women are expelled from the house.
This was first reported by the »Ostsee-Zeitung«, a spokesman for the Theater Vorpommern confirmed the incident to SPIEGEL.
Guests of the performance had felt disturbed by two women "who drank, talked and kissed during the performance," the theater said in response to a SPIEGEL request. During the break, the visitors had turned to an employee of the emergency service. There was a "confrontation" between the two women by an employee and an "unfortunate choice of words" – as a result, the couple felt compelled to "leave the performance".
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What the theatre's statement leaves open: Did the employee at the entrance make discriminatory comments or simply insulting? For the classification of the incident and a better understanding, it would be important to know this, because the communication of the theatre actually allows two interpretations: On the one hand, it could be an admission of the fact that an employee of the theatre attacked two visitors decidedly because of their sexual orientation. But one could also read a story from it, according to which two drunken and noisy visitors were reprimanded – by an employee who was at best a little rude.
What did she say?
The Theater Vorpommern did not want to resolve this blurring until Monday afternoon, a request for concretization remained unanswered for the time being. For the time being, the question remains: What exactly did the woman say?
However, the further explanations in the statement suggest that much more must have happened than a few loud words: One is in contact with one of the affected women via social media, it is said. "Of course, the House apologized for this unfortunate incident and made an offer of talks, which was accepted." In discussions with the employees of the emergency service, they are also trying to reconstruct the incident. "The management is reviewing the process and will decide what the consequences will be in terms of personnel and content."
Criticism of the theater's actions was expressed by left-wing politician Niema Movassat: "We truly live in dark, intolerant and dangerous times," he wrote on Twitter. In a second tweet, the former member of the Bundestag added: "As long as this country is not ruled by the Taliban or a prudish regime, you can kiss wherever you want."