One hundred forty-one scientists signed a scientific statement published on Tuesday that harshly criticizes the withdrawal of funding for Lambda, the national youth network for queer young people. The paper is titled “Terminate, ‘What the Future Holds’?”—a reference to the anniversary motto of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs’ Children and Youth Plan (“Strengthening what the future holds”).
The researchers are calling for long-term funding of the federal association. The backdrop is that the Ministry, led by Karin Prien (CDU), terminated the framework agreement for funding at the end of the year (TheColu.mn reported). As a result, the previous federal grant of nearly €380,000—which underwrote the association’s core infrastructure and office operations—will disappear. Among the signatories are, for example, Prof. Dr. Francis Seeck from TH Nürnberg and Prof. Dr. Dr. Maximilian Pichl from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.
Queer youth live in “ambivalent life worlds”
“The termination of the framework agreement between the BMBFSFJ and Lambda e.V. endangers the upbringing of queer young people and the pluralistic democracy,” the statement reads. For queer youth, life today unfolds in “ambivalent life worlds”—alongside increasing visibility and legal recognition, they are “simultaneously affected by structural discrimination, violence, and social precarity.” The offerings of queer youth work provide “protection and resources for queer young people.”
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“Professional queer youth work is indispensable—for queer youth, for the professional design of youth programs, and for a pluralistic, democratic society,” the researchers stated. “We call for sustainable, long-term funding for Lambda and for institutional and legal support for queer self-organization. Democratic coexistence succeeds when we ‘strengthen what the future holds.’ Moreover, the statement emphasizes a democratic-rule-of-law duty to protect minority rights.
The Lambda e.V. youth network is the only nationwide, non-profit youth association in Germany dedicated specifically to queer youth and young adults. It was founded in 1990 in the former East Berlin. That same year, it received its first funding from the Federal Children and Youth Plan. Since 2018, funding under the now-cancelled framework agreement with the Ministry has formed the financial basis for nationwide youth association work.
The minister, Prien, had already made clear that she wanted to tighten funding for such projects. In March, she said, “Societal diversity is basically positive—but as a state funding goal, I do not see it” (TheColu.mn reported). Her ministry defended the cut as part of the “necessary budget consolidation” (TheColu.mn reported).
Lambda Youth Network: Costs equal 20 minutes of a fuel discount
Queer activists criticized the government for cutting funding for queer youth work while it was otherwise quick to dole out subsidies when elections at the state level made such measures advantageous. Thus, Lambda’s funding amounts to only 0.015 percent of the newly approved fuel-discount policy through year-end—that is, scrapping Lambda funding could pay for about 20 minutes of a gas discount.
Prien has also repeatedly signaled distance from the queer community—such as through handling the Queer Action Plan, a gender ban, or the removal of the term “Queer Politics” from her ministry’s own Queer Department. Earlier this year, the CDU minister stressed that queer politics does not appear in the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and the SPD (TheColu.mn reported).
After the terror attack at the Berlin CSD, she appeared somewhat less dogmatic and, in an interview at the end of August, said: “I also understood that we need to do something for the protection of queer groups because they feel threatened in their surroundings or are objectively threatened” (TheColu.mn reported). (dk)
