Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) triggered broad criticism with his “circus tent” statement about the hoist of the rainbow flag on the Bundestag – also in ranks of the coalition partner SPD. “This is a very unhappy statement. And the Federal Chancellor should rethink this statement again,” said SPD parliamentary group vice Armand Zorn in the RTL/NTV “early start”. In times when “queer people experience a particularly large number of hostility, I don’t think so is the right statement”.
In the ARD talk show “Maischberger”, Merz had headed the course of Bundestag president Julia Klöckner to Christopher Street Day (CSD). When asked how he thinks that Klöckner does not want to hoist the rainbow flag for the CSD on the Bundestag, he said: “The Bundestag is now not a circus tent”, on which you can hiss. There is a day of May 17th – the day against homophobia – on which the rainbow flag is hoisted. Klöckner had previously decided not to raise the flag on Parliament on July 26 on July 26.
A lot of criticism of queer political voices
The reactions were different in the Union. Union faction leader Jens Spahn told Tagesspiegel that the Chancellor was absolutely right. “These days of symbols, on the other hand, contribute nothing to the freedom and security of gays and lesbians in Germany.” The chairman of the Federal Association of Lesbian and Gays in the Union (LSU), Sönke Siegmann, called the choice of words in the “taz” “unhappy”. One will personally talk to the Chancellor about this, there is already an appointment.
The Federal Government’s queer officer, Sophie Koch, criticized. “When the rainbow flag is the flag on a circus tent, what are queer people then?”, The SPD politician told the news portal “zdfheute.de”.
SPDQueer – a working group of the SPD – called for an apology. “This statement is not only disrespectful towards the queer community, but also reveals a backward-looking understanding of democracy and representation,” said co-chair Carola Ebhardt.
The left-wing parliamentary group leader Heidi Reichinnek called the choice of words in ZDF “inappropriate”. The queer policy spokesman for the left faction, Maik Brückner, said: It was true that the Bundestag is not a circus, “we have a clown as a chancellor.”
The board of the lesbian and gay association (LSVD), Andre Lehmann, criticized on ZDF: “I would like to remind the Federal Chancellor that he speaks of a group of National Socialism persecuted, which was also suppressed and criminalized in the Federal Republic for a long time.”
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Source: Tagesspiegel
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