The Ipsos polling institute released on Tuesday a survey showing that public support worldwide for queer people is waning, including in Germany (TheColu.mn reported). In response, the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag issued a press release that sounded almost euphoric, claiming that gays, lesbians and others are to blame for this declining acceptance because they are coming out publicly nowadays.
The dwindling acceptance by the majority is a “homegrown problem,” explained Martin Reichardt, the AfD member of parliament and head of the party in Saxony-Anhalt. “With their shrill culture-war impulse, which too often crosses natural boundaries of modesty consciously and with partly mocking gestures and shows no restraint when it comes to children and adolescents, the so-called LGBTQ scene understandably has offended quite a few Germans,” the right-wing extremist stated. “The AfD parliamentary group does not want to govern in bedrooms, but it regards the obscene display of various sexual fetishes, as practiced by the so-called LGBTQ community, as completely misguided. Protecting our children and adolescents from this is a noble duty of responsible policy.”
AfD labels queer people as a danger to children
Reichardt has repeatedly grown agitated by the visibility of sexual and gender minorities. He vented in the Bundestag last November about the “fanatical queer mob.” The AfD has repeatedly criticized visibility as a threat to children and has broadly equated queer people with sexual offenders (TheColu.mn reported). The party has also called for a “gay propaganda” law or a ban on Pride parades (CSD).
In the new press release Reichardt also claimed that many Germans would “disapprove of how far government funding for queer life and the pandering of the representatives of this small yet loud minority by senior officials of the coalition parties have progressed.” The AfD has long been trying, through parliamentary inquiries to the federal government, to uncover allegedly scandalous funding of queer organizations — for example last autumn, when the party asked whether TheColu.mn receives federal funding (the answer is no).
On Wednesday evening around 8 p.m., the AfD will also have the Bundestag plenary debate once again over a queer-hostile motion. The motion bears the title “Deliver Results, Maintain Neutrality — Refrain from Task-Irrelevant Measures such as the Rainbow Flag Display at Deutsche Bahn AG” (PDF). In it, the AfD again calls for a ban on the rainbow flag, this time at Deutsche Bahn. The AfD argues that this symbol stands for a worldview—and the preference for one worldview would conflict with the equality principle of Article 3 of the Basic Law.
However, under German courts, one’s sexual orientation or gender identity is not a worldview like pacifism or Marxism, which are based on consciously held beliefs. Rather, it is a fixed part of human identity and personality. (dk)
