Despite recent statements by the CDU parliamentary group leader, Thorsten Frei, Stefan Evers, the top candidate for CDU Berlin, insists on his demand to embed the protection of sexual identity into the Basic Law. According to Focus, Evers stated to the magazine, “We will continue to advocate for explicitly enshrining protection against discrimination based on sexual identity in the Basic Law. Furthermore, there is historical responsibility: homosexual people were persecuted during the National Socialism and continued to face criminal discrimination long afterward.” For this reason, he believes the protection of sexual identity belongs in Article 3 of the Basic Law.
However, criticism also came from the Lesbian and Gay Union of the CDU (LSU). LSU chief Sönke Siegmann challenged the parliamentary group chairman in Focus: “We do not need compassion and understanding-we need real protection. Anyone who dismisses the anchoring of this protection as mere symbolic politics misunderstands the reality of queer people and ignores their own responsibility.” Siegmann added that if Frei argues that an addition wouldn’t create greater safety, he must at least offer an alternative. He questioned, “How exactly will Mr. Frei strengthen the protection of queer people?” Frei had recently dismissed the demand to incorporate the protection of sexual identity into the Basic Law as unnecessary.
