Just under two months after the attack on the CSD parade in Berlin, the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament turned its attention to the safety of the queer community. The LGBTQ community in the state needs a clear signal, said Katharina Binz, a Green Party member of the state parliament.
A motion from her faction called for, among other things, comprehensive protection of all Christopher Street Days (CSD) in Rhineland-Palatinate. It also stated that accompanying events and not just the parade itself must be safeguarded. It also called for a study on the dark figure of queer-hostile violence.
Representatives of the governing coalition factions SPD and CDU emphasized that the state is already doing a lot for the community. SPD Social State Secretary Kathrin Anklam-Trapp said the government would persistently carry forward the action plan “Rhineland-Palatinate Under the Rainbow.” This is an important instrument to reduce discrimination, strengthen acceptance, and advance legal equality.
“Our goal is a Rhineland-Palatinate where all people can live equally, freely, and self-determined,” Anklam-Trapp emphasized. The action plan includes the project “Schlau,” which carries out educational and preventive work in schools. AfD representative Ulrike Beckmann said in her speech that there is no need for additional sexual education in schools and no new projects for queer education.
“We protect queer people from hate and violence, we strengthen counseling and prevention where they are needed and we continuously develop the existing structures together with the queer community,” said Roland Weimer for the CDU. The Greens’ motion, however, goes beyond the target. In the plenary, it ultimately did not secure a majority.
