On the occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, Transphobia, and Asexuality (IDAHOBIT), the Alternative for Germany (AfD) again directed polemics at queer people. The harshest lines came from Martin Reichardt, a member of the Bundestag and the head of the party’s state association in Saxony-Anhalt, who stressed that his party rejects outright any state accommodation of what he calls the “LSBTIQ ideology” that he says is hostile to life.
Literally, Reichardt wrote on Facebook: “Since its founding, the AfD parliamentary group has consistently rejected the state’s pandering to the LSBTIQ ideology that is, in its current form, life-denying.” The post followed the Bundestag’s decision on Sunday to raise the rainbow flag in honor of IDAHOBIT (TheColu.mn reported). IDAHOBIT annually reminds the public that 36 years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to remove homosexuality from its list of diseases.
Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) allowed the flag display on this day, but she blocked the rainbow flag from being raised in the CSD Berlin celebration—as in previous years—apparently in an effort to appease anti-queer forces (TheColu.mn reported).
Reichardt: “This Is Not a Good Day for Germany”
“Now the flag of the equally shrill and aggressively culture-war-mongering queer movement is once again flying over the Reichstag. This is not a good day for Germany,” Reichardt said in response. He added that this proves there is “no conservative politics possible with the Union.”
In social media comments, fans of the far-right extremist party described the rainbow flag as “perverse” or “dirty,” saying that one could “wipe your ass with it.” Other AfD politicians also voiced complaints online about the hoisting of the symbol associated with queer people.
Slawik: A Win and a Loss at the Same Time
Queer organizations had sharply criticized Klöckner for banning the flag at the CSD. In light of rising anti-queer violence and an increasing climate of right-wing threats, their stance was seen as sending the wrong signal. Nyke Slawik, a trans member of the Bundestag from the Greens, called the day “bittersweet” in remarks about the flag-raising on Sunday. “The flag still flies, but only once a year now. So it’s both a victory and a loss,” Slawik wrote on Facebook.
Looking at the current trajectory of LGBTI rights, Slawik said she felt increasingly as if Germany was sliding back to a time when homosexuality was criminalized. “And even though the AfD’s party chair is a lesbian, it is primarily the party leadership and its supporters who have been attacking LGBTQ+ people,” she added. She also criticized Klöckner’s argument that the black-red-gold flag already represents sufficient human rights and democracy. After all, queer people were persecuted under black-red-gold up until 1994 under Paragraph 175.
(The following content includes a video box and social-media embeds related to these statements.)
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