It feels like a well-rehearsed script. First come the flowers, then the pious statements. One after another, mainstream German politicians have lined up to claim that the attack on Berlin Pride last weekend was an attack on “all of us”, “our values” and “our society”.
Except it was not. This atrocity in which a van was rammed into the crowd was, first and foremost, an attack on queer people. A vulnerable community that has been fighting for its rights for many decades; that, in recent years and all over the world, has increasingly been targeted by conservative forces.
But, of course, the script is comfortable, because it requires nothing, least of all memory. In Germany, under the centre-right coalition led by the conservative chancellor, Friedrich Merz, the queer community has lost more and more resources, spaces and protection, due to decisions made by the very same people who are now expressing solidarity in public.
When Merz made the statement on Sunday that Pride-goers should not be intimidated, and that this attack was intended to divide our society, many queer people and allies wondered: is this the same Friedrich Merz who rejected the suggestion to fly a rainbow flag from the Bundestag during last year’s Pride, with the remark, “The Bundestag is not a circus tent”? » | Fatma Aydemir | Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Even though the Muslim world is replete with gays, just like every other society throughout the world is, Islam itself is extremely homophobic. The precepts and tenets of the faith insist on the adoption of a homophobic stance in order to be considered to be a good, Allah-fearing, prophet-Muhammad-loving and -following, Shariah-abiding, devout Muslim!
When it comes to homosexuality, what you find in many strict Islamic societies is hypocrisy: outwardly the Muslim will be extremely homophobic, but within high walls and closed doors—in secret— a very different picture often emerges. I know this to be so from personal experience. I have witnessed it first-hand. In fact, when I worked in the Middle East as a fresh-faced young man with thick, luxuriant hair—hair is a huge turn-on for very many Muslims, especially young ones—it was often a huge problem for me. At that time, I was still in the closet. To have been out in Saudi Arabia would have been untenable and dangerous. God only knows what would have happened!
I tell you this for one purpose: To show you that I know and understand the mentality of these people. Well! What happened in Germany at the weekend, was not an attack on all Germans; rather, it was a targeted attack on the queer community. Despite homosexuality being widespread in the Muslim community, homophobia is rifer amongst so-called Islamists, or fundamentalist, extremely devout Muslims. So any German politicians failing to recognise this fact is failing the queer community in Germany. The same, of course, applies to politicians in other western countries as well. — © Mark Alexander
