In an unprecedented collective coming out action, 125 members of the Catholic Church in Germany publicly declared their affiliation with the queer community by demanding a change in the Church's labor law, dpa reported.

They called on other Catholics to join the #OutInChurch initiative.

Among those who have come out as LGBTQ+ are priests, reference pastors, Catholic community leaders, teachers, religious school professors, church administration staff and employees, the report says.

The participants demanded that the Catholic Church stop using sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for dismissal, and that discrediting statements about gender and sexuality be removed from Church teaching.

According to priest Bernd Mönkebüscher, who in 2021 initiated a blessing for homosexual couples, the coming-out action in the church was inspired by last year's example, when 185 German actresses and actors revealed that they were gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-queer, intersex and non-binary people.