Below is a translation of an article that appeared in the German online LGBT magazine "Queer.de" on 16.9.13. (The original article in German can be read here.)
Homophobia in the 2013 German General Election.
The BIG Party: posters opposing equal
marriage.
One of several BIG posters opposing equal marriage in Bad
Godesberg, Bonn. It reads: “Every child has a right to a father and a
mother.”
Not for
the first time, this small Islamic party is campaigning on a homophobic platform.
“BIG”, a fringe party founded by migrants to Germany, has continued its homophobic campaign in the German parliamentary
elections, leading to the appearance of posters that declare, by means of
photos and an inequality sign, that a gay couple is something different from a
heterosexual one. To this end, the poster states: “Every child has a right to a
father and a mother.”
The message is that only the BIG Party stands up for heterosexual couples, whereas gay couples have the SPD, the Greens, the
FDP, the “Linke” (Democratic Socialists) and the Pirate Party on their side.
Only the CDU (Conservative Party) is missing: arguably, for good reason.
This year, the "Bündnis für Innovation und
Gerechtigkeit" (Alliance for Innovation and Justice) is standing in the
German parliamentary general election for the first time: in Berlin, Nordrhein-Westfalen
and Baden-Württemberg. However, since the party was founded in 2010, it has
never gained more than 0.5 per cent of the vote in several regional and local
elections. In the 2011 elections to the Berlin House of Representatives, the
Alliance already conducted a homophobic campaign by warning in a leaflet that "being gay" could become a school subject.
Parallels to the "AfD" (The "Alternatives for Germany Party").
The BIG Party was not
alone with its faux-outrage about a new sex education programme. First of all the
Springer press got worked up about it, and then Catholics such as the k-tv
chief editor Martin Lohmann on the “Free World” website, and the similarly
popular talkshow guest Hedwig Freifrau von Beverfoerde as the spokesperson for
the "Initiativ Familienschutz" (Family Protection Initiative).
The
“Free World” news
website and the Family Protection Initiative are run by Sven von Storch,
the
husband of the conservative activist Beatrix von Storch, who has second
place
on the Berlin federal state elections list for the “AfD” (Alternatives
for
Germany) and could gain a place in the German national parliament should
the
party succeed in gaining over 5 per cent of the vote. Von Storch, who as
an also-ran takes up the issue of homosexuality on her campaign
home page, asked
the chairperson of the German Bishops’ Conference a few weeks ago to
warn people about the Green Party’s and the Pirate Party’s support for
equal marriage.
The homophobic advertisement by
the Partei Bibeltreuer Christen (The Bible-Believing Christian Party).
Leaving aside the public rejection of LGBT equality from the German Chancellor, the Bible-Believing Christian Party is certainly
conducting the most vocally homophobic election campaign at the moment, thanks to an
advertisement that is also being broadcast on television.
In the
advertisement, we see a child being led through a park by two men, and we hear
the comment, “and in this way, man has disgraced himself with man.” Later, the girl says, “But I need a dad and a mum.” However, the PBC has also never
achieved more than 0.1 per cent in a general
election.
In last
week’s ARD documentary, “Der Kampf der Kleinen” (“The Fight of the Small Parties”),
we were treated to activists from both BIG and PBC who made anti-gay comments
on camera. Although the BIG Party Chairman, Haluk Yildiz, said he had no
fundamental problem with same-sex relationships, he did say he was opposed to their
being treated equally. However, when the issue of homosexuality was raised, the Party Treasurer soon started to talk about child abuse.
Translated by Gary Powell, and published with permission from Queer.de.
