The queer community is worried about the results of the state elections in Saxony. The “climate of rejection and intolerance” on the streets could increase.
At the Saxony election comes the AfD according to preliminary results at 30.6 percent. What does that mean for queer people in Germany? “If so many people vote for a party that is openly anti-queer and anti-trans, that is a terrible sign,” says Jonas Löschau, co-founder of Queernetz, BuzzFeed News Germany from IPPEN.MEDIAQueernetz is a youth group in the city of Bautzen in Saxony that supports queer young people.
Right-wing extremists could get a boost from Saxony election
In the Bautzen constituency, more people voted for the AfD in the state election than in the rest of the state: 49.1 percent of the first votes and 41.9 percent of the second votes went to the right-wing party, according to an analysis by the mp3 shows.
Löschau points out that the AfD is not the only right-wing party that was popular in the Saxony election. The small, right-wing extremist party Free Saxony did not make it into parliament, but still achieved a comparatively high result of 2.6 percent. The Queernetz group fears that the election results could give right-wing extremist networks and actors in Saxony a “tailwind”.
Attacks against queer people could increase after state elections
Right-wing extremists could become even more visible in Bautzen and other places in Saxony because they are more daring to show themselves openly, Löschau suspects. The 24-year-old identifies himself as bisexual. “Queer people will think even more carefully about whether they want to go out alone, whether they want to be insulted, spat on or followed by right-wing extremists,” he says. BuzzFeed News GermanyThere is already a “climate of rejection and intolerance” on the streets, which could be exacerbated by the state elections.
In a survey of FRA Fundamental Rights Agency of May 2024, 57 percent of LGBTIQ* people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, intersex, queer) said they had been verbally harassed or threatened in Germany in the previous twelve months. After the local elections in Saxony and the European elections (both in June), in which the AfD made large gains, Attacks against queer people increasedaccording to Queernetz’s experience.
At the CSD in Bautzen, which the youth group organized, hundreds of right-wing extremist counter-demonstrators and neo-Nazi groups gathered in August. About a month ago, Löschau says he witnessed how three queer people were beaten so badly by six masked men, presumably right-wing extremists, in front of the youth club in Bautzen managed by Queernetz that they had to be hospitalized.
Queer youth group fears a government with BSW and CDU
There is, however, one piece of positive news: It is highly unlikely that the AfD will govern in Saxony. “The scenario that we were very worried about because it would have meant enormous cuts for queer life in Saxony has not happened,” says Löschau. Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has clearly ruled out cooperation with the AfD. Instead, there could be a coalition with the SPD and the newly founded BSW.
This possible government constellation is a concern for the Queernetz group. “This would mean that two parties in government would not have much to do with the rights of queer people. In the past, they have repeatedly used queer issues to gain political profit from them,” says the Queernetz co-founder. Sarah Wagenknechtfounder of BSW, is known for her opposition to so-called gender politics.
Löschau hopes that the SPD in Saxony will be a strong voice for queer people. And that groups like Queernetz across the country can continue to stand up for the rights of the queer community.
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