THE GUARDIAN: Community grapples with fear over ‘proliferation and normalisation of anti-queer and anti-trans sentiment in politics and the media’
They poured on to streets across Germany by the thousands, waving rainbow flags and signs that read “Choose Love”. Days before an election in which the far right is expected to catapult into second place in Germany’s parliament, the simultaneous rallies in 50 municipalities were billed as a show of strength by an LGBTQ+ community as people braced for what might lie ahead.
“Many queer people are unsettled by the social and political situation,” the organisers of the mid-February, cross-country initiative wrote on their website. “The tone against us is getting harsher, and liberal democracy is under pressure.”
For years, rights campaigners have come up against the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and its opposition to marriage equality, safe community spaces and access to healthcare and reproductive justice.
Sunday’s election, however, could leave the LGBTQ+ community grappling with an intensified challenge as polls suggest support for the AfD is set to double, yielding a result that would be unprecedented in the country’s postwar history. » | Ashifa Kassam in Berlin, and Jakub Krupa | Friday, February 21, 2025
