Enlarge image
Green politician Sven Lehmann in the Bundestag
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Future Image / IMAGO
The federal government has appointed a queer commissioner for the first time.
In this role, the Green politician Sven Lehmann should campaign for the acceptance of sexual and gender diversity.
The cabinet decided to appoint Lehmann for the new post on Wednesday in Berlin, as government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced.
The 42-year-old social politician Lehmann is Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs and sits in the Bundestag for the Cologne constituency.
Lehmann has been a member of the Greens in the Bundestag since 2017.
From 2018 to 2021 he was the spokesman for queer policy and social policy for the Greens parliamentary group.
"Everyone should be able to live freely, safely and with equal rights," said Lehmann after his appointment was announced.
Based on the guiding principle of self-determination, the new federal government will "pursue a progressive queer policy and also align family policy with the social reality of different types of families."
Lehmann promises national action plan
"The protection of people based on their sexual and gender identity must be ensured in the Basic Law and the fundamental rights of trans, inter and non-binary people must finally be fully enforced," said Lehmann.
"We also need a broad strategy to combat group-related enmity - including explicitly against queerophobia."
To this end, together with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, he will launch a national action plan for the acceptance and protection of sexual and gender diversity, said Lehmann.
The SPD, Greens and FDP had already announced this plan in the coalition agreement.
"Germany should become a pioneer in the fight against discrimination."
The English term "queer" denotes all those sexual or gender identities that differ from the heterosexual majority.
This includes, for example, homosexual, trans or intersex people.
The term thus has a much wider field of meaning than older terms such as "gay" or "lesbian".
anr / dpa / AFP
