'Better To Be a Dictator than Gay': Germany Slams Lukashenko Over Slur

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Berlin has reacted with disgust to an insult by the Belarus president about Germany's homosexual foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle. In response to criticism of his country's human rights record, Alexander Lukashenko said it is "better to be a dictator than gay." Westerwelle said the remark "speaks for itself."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Monday dismissed a comment about his homosexuality by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who had said: "Better to be a dictator than gay."

Westerwelle, who last week described Lukashenko as "Europe's last dictator," said on Monday: "This statement condemns itself. I won't budge one millimeter from my commítment to human rights and democracy in Belarus after these comments."

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Lukaschenko's comment "shows very clearly the position that the Belarus president takes in relation to basic rights. It's interesting to find out this way that Mr. Lukashenko too now classes himself as a dictator."

"That by the way is a view that the federal government reached some time ago and on which the Belarus president delivers proof almost daily," he added. » | SPIEGEL -- with wire reports | Monday, March 05, 2012

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