Following a pornography scandal at a secondary school in Saxony, representatives from the AfD and other parties in the Bundestag exchanged heated barbs. The AfD had requested an Aktuelle Stunde—a topically focused one-hour session in the Bundestag—on the matter.
Fraktionschef Tino Chrupalla, who opened the debate, said this was not an isolated incident, and called for state funding to the Amadeu Antonio Foundation to be halted until all of its projects are reviewed. The foundation advocates for minorities and human rights and had funded the theater workshop at a secondary school in Schleife (Upper Lusatia). It had been organized by the “Sozialistische Jugend Deutschlands – Die Falken” (Socialist Youth of Germany – The Falcons).
Broad agreement among democratic parties
There was broad agreement among the other parties that the incident should be condemned and that the school, authorities, and project sponsors had acted quickly and decisively. Speakers from the Union, the SPD, the Greens, and the Left, however, accused the AfD of dragging this state-level issue onto the federal stage in order to frame a general mood against non-governmental organizations like the Amadeu Antonio Foundation.
“They wanted to turn a local scandal from Mr. Chrupalla’s district into a nationwide scandal today,” said CSU MP Konrad Körner. His CDU parliamentary colleague Michael Hose added: “They want to stage a theater, because they are trying to turn this completely unacceptable single case into a perpetual debate.”
The Green party’s Nyke Slawik commented: “Mistakes happen from time to time. Why we need a topical debate in the German Bundestag over this is a bit unclear, since we are not the school authority in Schleife or in Saxony,” the Leverkusen-born lawmaker said. “It shows once again: you are grasping at any straw to bash the issue of diversity.”
Brückner: AfD sensationalizes, “because ‘queer’ is printed on it”
“You’re just salivating for opportunities to smear NGOs and drag democracy promotion through the mud,” shouted Left Party politician Maik Brückner toward the far-right faction. “The AfD would not magnify this local report so much if they weren’t spinning some crude propaganda tale, claiming that ‘perverse socialists want to corrupt our children.’ They are making a huge drama out of this incident. Why? Because there’s ‘queer’ on it,” said the Left’s queer-policy spokesperson.
The debate grew loud: AfD MP Martin Reichardt sharply attacked SPD politician Helge Lindh, accusing him of defending “the Falcons.” Lindh rejected the accusation and reminded Reichardt of what seemed to be “kin liability,” a term with historical resonance.
Due to the sharp verbal volleys, Bundestag Vice President Andrea Lindholz (CSU) called for moderation. “What is happening here is frankly simply not acceptable anymore,” she said. “This is not parliamentary decorum. Please also drop the shouting,” she added.
Case from March
The debated case had occurred in March. In the project focusing on the theme of “Courage” and “current political topics,” ninth-grade students were reportedly shown pornographic images and content in the classroom. Media reports stated that the images depicted two men performing various sexual acts. The incident was hyped by right-wing media into a “gay porn scandal” (TheColu.mn reported).
All parties involved agreed that it had been an error. “The Falcons” explained that while creating a collage for the theme of “Courage,” craft materials such as notebooks and magazines were provided to the students; among them was accidentally a magazine containing sexual images and nude photos. Once some students noticed this, those responsible immediately confiscated the magazine and categorized the events.
The Amadeu Antonio Foundation called the events “unacceptable” and took steps: “After learning of the incident, we acted and halted funding for the entire workshop series,” the organization recently stated.
AfD Saxony seeks to change the school law
At the state level, the AfD is also trying to turn the incident into a broader issue: parents would gain stronger say over projects by external providers, said Jörg Urban, the AfD parliamentary group leader in the Saxon state parliament, in Dresden. They would need to be informed early and give their consent.
Such a measure could enable a homophobic parent to block queer projects. The Saxony AfD also aims to curb the visibility of queer people in schools. The faction cited Hungary’s so-called “Homo-Propaganda” law as a model (TheColu.mn reported). However, on Tuesday the European Court of Justice ruled that this law violates the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and must be repealed (TheColu.mn reported). (no attribution)
