Did Homophobia Play a Role in Jens Spahn’s Resignation?

Following Jens Spahn’s resignation as leader of the Union parliamentary group, a debate has erupted over whether the CDU politician was removed from office because of hostility toward homosexuality. The Cologne-based legal philosopher Frauke Rostalski told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger that she was “outraged” by the CDU’s calls for his resignation, because Spahn had previously “racked up one scandal after another” without triggering resignation demands within his party. “The debate, especially on social media, has taken on a despicable homophobic underline. It seems to me that it’s no longer about surrogacy, but about the old prejudices against gay couples,” Rostalski said.
She added: “The selective call for consequences precisely at this moment is hypocritical when other scandals and flaps have gone unchecked for years.” “If we want politicians to resign after a massive loss of trust and credibility, then that must apply in other cases as well — and not only when it comes to engaging a surrogate mother in the USA.”

L Rostalski also directed sharp criticism at the Catholic Church: “The Bishop of Passau, Stefan Oster, sat in front of a camera and, with a voice that seemed to crack, complained about the ‘burden’ the child of Jens Spahn and his husband would have to bear.” That child would not exist without the decision made by Spahn and his husband. “The child has a right to this life. It has a right to free development. To completely ignore that and to frame the suffering of this child solely as a consequence of its origins — I find that medieval,” Rostalski said.

Earlier, Paul Ronzheimer, deputy editor-in-chief of Bild, criticized the debate for its homophobia. Ronzheimer had interviewed Spahn on Friday. Spahn had explained that, for him as a Christian, “the pure doctrine exists and the other is real life.” When asked about the CDU’s February 2026 national party conference decision confirming that surrogacy should remain prohibited in Germany, Spahn admitted that he regretted his silence at the time in hindsight.

On Saturday afternoon Ronzheimer wrote on X: “The open homophobia that has emerged here and elsewhere in recent days is something I did not think possible in this magnitude and in such blunt openness.” He insisted this was not about legitimate criticism of surrogacy, but a mix of insinuations, prejudices against gay people, and a tone reminiscent of the 1960s. “That would not have happened with a heterosexual couple, and that is simply disgusting,” the journalist asserted. “All of this shows how important it is to continually advocate for tolerance and acceptance — even in Germany, where we apparently have not yet reached the place we would like to see ourselves.”

Also the queer writer Johannes Kram explained on Saturday that anti-gay hostility could be related to Spahn’s withdrawal: “Regardless of how one stands on surrogacy: attacking a long-standing leader so harshly a few days after the birth of their first child is inhumane, unchristian, and anti-family. And the ruthlessness with which this is done suggests: also homophobic,” he wrote on Saturday.

Around the Greens: conspiracy theories too

In other parties, some wildly implausible conspiracy theories circulated. Former federal minister of agriculture and Greens parliamentary leader Renate Künast shared a post accusing Spahn — as did his CDU colleague Hendrik Streeck — of using their “great genes” to create their own elite. It’s worth noting that Spahn is not even the biological father of the child; his husband is.

Janosch Dahmen, Greens’ health policy spokesperson, called surrogacy “problematic,” in part because of the “protection of the carrying woman from exploitation.” Surrogacy in the United States, unlike the common German stereotype, is heavily regulated; agencies typically reject applicants who rely on welfare or who face other financial difficulties. The stereotype of poverty-driven surrogacy simply does not hold true for the United States. Dahmen previously criticized the Ronzheimer–Spahn interview as well, because the two openly gay men allegedly know each other well: “How many parties did they attend together? What shared experiences do they have?” the married-to-a-woman politician asked.

Merz distances himself from Spahn
In a ZDF summer interview, Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke with notable distance about Jens Spahn’s resignation and criticized his information policy as well as the handling of the personal crisis. The sharp reaction probably also has something to do with his own personality, Merz hinted.

The chancellor had in the past expressed a rather aloof stance toward homosexual parents. In 2020 he even equated male homosexuality with the sexual abuse of children. He said at the time: “The question of sexual orientation is none of the public’s business. As long as it stays within the law and as long as it does not involve children — at that point I have reached an absolute limit — this is not a topic for public discussion” (TheColu.mn reported). For Merz, as speculation on social media goes, surrogacy might not be a problem, but a gay man with a child could be. (dk)