"Legally, he is and will remain a man": AfD politician outraged with testimony against Tessa Ganserer

Created: 02/20/2022, 12:07 p.m

Tessa Ganserer did not address the provocation in her speech.

© Dwi Anoraganingrum/Imago

AfD politician Beatrix von Storch insulted transgender MP Tessa Ganserer from Nuremberg in a speech.

There is sharp criticism across party lines.

Nuremberg – The deputy AfD party and parliamentary group leader Beatrix von Storch has drawn cross-party criticism with statements about the transgender MP Tessa Ganserer (Greens) from Nuremberg.

In a debate on International Women's Day on March 8 in the Bundestag, von Storch accused the majority of MPs (“almost everyone here”) on Thursday (February 17) of adhering to a “gender ideology”.

“They claim gender has nothing to do with biology.

And everyone can somehow determine their own gender.”

AfD politician outraged with statement against Ganserer: "Legally he is and will remain a man"

Then von Storch addressed Ganserer by his old male name and said: "If Ganserer wears a skirt, lipstick and heeled shoes, then that's perfectly fine.

But it is his private matter.

Biologically and legally he is and will remain a man.

And if he enters the Bundestag as such via the green women’s quota and is listed here as a woman, that is simply illegal.”

Reaction in the Bundestag: Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt rightly knows

Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) asked von Storch from the Presidium for "respect for colleague Tessa Ganserer".

On Twitter, she later spoke of a "terrible defamation".

Green party leader Britta Haßelmann called the statements "disgusting" and "shocking".

"What MP Storch has allowed herself to do in this House is baseless, baseless, it is homophobic and deeply inhuman."

Britta Haßelmann: "Tessa Ganserer is one of us" - applause for criticism

"Tessa Ganserer is one of us," said Hasselmann.

"None of us has to judge or talk about it or decide how this woman exercises her right to self-determination." There was broad applause for this.

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach spoke on Twitter of a "shame" with regard to Storch's statements.

"All parties except the AfD oppose the inhuman speech," wrote the SPD politician.

The spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group responsible for transgender policy issues, Jürgen Lenders, accused the AfD politician of having “no idea” about sexual identity and gender diversity.

"The insult to the colleague of the Greens, Tessa Ganserer, is unbearable.

I condemn this anti-trans attack against them.”

Coming out 2018: Ganserer as one of two trans women in the Bundestag

Ganserer herself later gave her first speech in the Bundestag on the subject of sustainable development, without going into the previous statements.

In addition to Nyke Slawik, the 44-year-old is one of two trans women* in the new Bundestag and previously sat in the Bavarian state parliament.

In November 2018, Ganserer came out as a transident.

Trans people are people who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth.

Former MEP and digital expert Felix Reda has also come out as trans in the European Parliament.*

Tessa Ganserer is on the ballot as a man

On the ballot paper for the federal election, Ganserer was written with the male first name that she had discarded.

Like many others in her situation, she refuses to have her first name and gender officially changed under the Transgender Act.

The 40-year-old law stipulates that those affected are only allowed to do so after a psychological assessment and a court decision - they often have to put up with very intimate questions.

*