The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has promised to amend the constitution and add “sexual identity” to it.
The weekend of July 22 saw the Pride Parade, or Christopher Street Day, in Berlin. Wegner seized the chance to promise to expand Article 3 of the German Constitution.
The article regulates equality under the law and states men and women “shall have equal rights”. No person shall be “favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions”.
Speaking at the start of the Berlin Pride Parade, Wegner said he wants to add an extra category. “My determined commitment to the present Berlin Senate is: We want to change Article 3 of the constitution. Sexual identity must be included. That is my promise,” he said. “We will get it done together with you.”
Wegner also warned about what he saw as increasing discrimination against LGBTQI+ people. “Berlin will always remain a safe haven for people under attack in other countries. We protect queer people who are threatened in many countries,” the CDU politician said.
“We have a development in the world, in Ghana, in Uganda, in Poland, that is unbearable.”
At the gay and lesbian street festival in the Schöneberg district a week earlier, Wegner wore a bracelet in rainbow colours and a tattoo on his forearm with the so-called ‘Progress Pride Flag’ – a radical version of the LGBTQI+ community symbol.
He reiterated his statement on Article 3 on Twitter. There, most reactions were negative. Reinhard Müller of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, rejected the idea of changing the basic law. “State bodies need not be reminded that the colours of freedom, diversity and equality before the law are black, red and gold.”
CDU/CSU deputy chairman Andreas Jung also said that Article 3 of the constitution already guarantees Wegner’s call via the principle of equality and a ban on discrimination.
Niemand darf wegen der sexuellen Identität diskriminiert werden. Der Berliner Senat wird sich dafür stark machen, dass Art. 3 GG entsprechend angepasst wird. Das ist mein Versprechen. Es ist Zeit.
— Kai Wegner (@kaiwegner) July 22, 2023
Wegner is the first Berlin mayor from the Conservative CDU to open a gay pride event – along with Bundestag leader Bärbel Bas of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Their appearance was not overwhelmingly well received with loud booing breaking out among the crowd and chants of “Wegner must go”.
The Berlin Pride Parade is one of the biggest events of the LGBTQI+ community in Europe.
#Bundestag feiert Vielfalt mit der Präsidentin @baerbelbas 🌈#HappyPride #CDSBerlin @IsraelinGermany @Ron_Prosor pic.twitter.com/iuGd21mXmn
— Michelle Müntefering (@Mi_Muentefering) July 22, 2023
