So, first of all, thank you so much for inviting me to this wonderful and timely conference.

This is a huge honor for me.

And what a beautiful venue this is.

It is my particular pleasure to share this panel with two of my favorite colleagues.

Thank you, Heiner, for your inspired and warm introduction.

Let me start with an anecdotal introduction.

In 1996, I attended my first LGBTIQ conference in the small city of Dornbirn in Western Austria.

We had been disinvited from our original conference venue for moral reasons.

Some religious dignitaries had protested our being in an official city building, and the

city of Dornbirn had deferred to their demands.

But Dornbirn was not able to get rid of us.

We were harbored by a very nice and welcoming hotel instead.

Skimming through the program and against the background of this conflict, I was surprised

to see that an inter-confessional prayer meeting was scheduled.

What about the restrictive sexual morris that had only contempt or, at best, but just as

insulting, pity for our sexuality?

I was flabbergasted to find out that religion was an important part in the lives of many

of my new friends and partners in queer political activism.

Ever since then, the complexity of the relationship between religion, gender, and sexuality has

fascinated me.

Gender non-normativity and religiosity, I realized, are not mutually exclusive.

They may be conflicting, but many LGBTIQs stand the tension and integrate their religious

beliefs and their sexual and gender identity.

Against this background, how do religious freedom and gender equality relate to each

other?

Think of societies where religious freedom is in high regard, where people can fearlessly

flourish in their religion and belief.

Do these societies also cherish and institutionalize gender equality, including the rights of sexual

and gender minorities?

Are there synergies between the right of freedom and belief and the right to gender equality?

As usual, when such questions arise, and certainly in the legal realm, the answer can only be

– it depends.

Freedom of religion and belief means that people shall be able to flourish individually

and in association with others of their creed, unimpeded and accommodated by the state.

The usual disclaimer for liberal democracy holds – this freedom must be compatible

with – it must not infringe the equal freedom of others.

To live free and openly as a religious person is an eminent human right, and it extends

to people who are not yet citizens of liberal democracies.

This idea is enshrined in European asylum law.

Just think of the judgment in the Court of Justice of the European Union decision in

the case of Germany vs. YNC from 2012.

The CJEU had to decide whether an applicant's fear of being prosecuted is well-founded,

where such a person can avoid exposure to persecution in his country of origin by abstaining

from certain practices.

In other words, may a European Union member state send a person back to their country

of origin that they have fled, telling them that it is safe for them to live there if

only they go into hiding?

In answering this question, the CJEU could not have been clearer.

I quote, where it is established that, upon his return to his country of origin, the person

concerned will follow a religious practice which will expose him to a real risk of persecution,