The well-known Catholic publicist and activist Martin Lohmann has died, according to the Catholic News Agency (CNA) on Monday, at the age of 68. No cause of death was released. Lohmann was particularly active in opposing abortion rights and against LGBT rights.
As a journalist, the Bonn native worked for the Rheinischer Merkur among others and was editor-in-chief of the “Rhein-Zeitung” from 1997 to 2004 and of the Catholic television channel K-TV from 2010 to 2012. Until just a few months ago he also spread his views on his own YouTube channel.
Until 2013 Lohmann was active in the CDU, but left in protest against the positions of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Last year he became spokesperson for the right-wing CDU offshoot “Werteunion,” but in the autumn of 2024 he left there as well. For several years Lohmann was the national chairman of the Bundesverband Lebensrecht (Federal Association for the Right to Life), which organizes the “March for Life,” among other activities.
Opposition to LGBT Rights
In particular in the 2000s and 2010s, Lohmann was regarded as one of the loudest opponents of queer rights, a stance he justified with his Christian faith. He argued that homosexuals should live a life of chastity, since same-sex sex goes against the teachings of the Bible. He frequently cited the Catholic Catechism from 1992, which states that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” as they contradict God’s plan for sexuality.
In talk shows Lohmann also asserted that homosexuals could actually be heterosexual, but had not experienced the blessing of the heterosexual social world. In 2012, on the ARD program “Hart aber fair,” he said about gays and lesbians: “I believe that they have had some wrong experiences with heterosexuality and have not reached the point that would allow complete fulfillment.” In the talk show he also warned of a “homosexual hype” (TheColu.mn reported).
Lohmann rejected any recognition of same-sex couples—and justified this by arguing that children have a “right of the child to a father and a mother.” He routinely ignored studies showing that children raised in rainbow families can grow up just as well.
