Anti-discrimination commissioner: Ataman demands vote on protecting queer people in Basic Law

Ferda Ataman, Germany's Independent Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination, is urging the Bundestag to hold a vote on strengthening constitutional protections for queer people. Ataman emphasized that queer individuals are the only group systematically murdered during the Nazi era and, despite this history, remain unprotected by the German constitution.

"Queer people are the only group that was systematically murdered in the National Socialist era, and yet they are not protected in the constitution to this day," Ataman stated in an interview with the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers. She believes that if a vote were held without party discipline, a clear two-thirds majority of Bundestag members would support enshrining the protection of gender and sexual diversity in Germany's Basic Law.

Ataman highlighted that the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency receives daily reports of discrimination based on sexual and gender identity. She called on the federal government not only to amend the Basic Law but also to implement the action plan for queer life, rather than shelving it as planned. Following a fatal attack at the Berlin Christopher Street Day, Ataman asserted that affected individuals deserve more than "lip service."

Her call comes in response to Thorsten Frei, the new leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, who recently rejected the idea of adding "sexual identity" to the Basic Law's anti-discrimination clause. Frei acknowledged the queer community's desire for this symbolic step but deemed it unnecessary, arguing it would "overburden our constitution." He also expressed opposition to flying the rainbow flag on the Reichstag building for future CSD events, stating his personal opinion that "motto flags do not belong on the Reichstag."