Comments on: Gay man tipped as German foreign minister

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:00:59 +0000

About the FDP being anti-gay: The FDP is one of the very few, if not even the only German party who in it’s official party doctrine defines a family not as “a man and a woman living with their biological or adopted children” but as “one or more adults living with one or more children in a relationship of trust, love and responsibility”. So the FDP clearly recognizes the fact that today, a family does not necessarily consist of a man and a woman and their children, but also a man and another man, or a woman and another woman, or even three men or three woman, or any combination of it, with their own or adopted children. I think this is a huge step forward, and it shows what the FDP, the liberals, stand for: Just let people live their lives as they wish.

By: prediger

prediger — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:08:55 +0000

to Vytautas:
i didn’t call the fdp “anti-gay”. it’s a fact that they have some very nice pro-gay ideas in their official party program for years. but it’s also a fact that fdp members of parliament simply don’t actually vote for these ideas, especially not where they are in coalition with the cdu/csu.

the cdu/csu can easily be called anti-gay. there is more than just one example when this party not only voted against gay rights, but also tried actively to annihilate some of the pro-gay progresses at the supreme court, for example the civil union (“eingetragene partnerschaft”) or the already existing step-parent adoption. if this is not anti-gay, then what is?

sure i know that being gay doesn’t mean being “left”. but you cannot deny that some parties do less for gay rights than others. and some even work actively against our rights.

By: Psalmotoxin

Psalmotoxin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:30:30 +0000

I’m in agreement with Prediger, no reason to smile about this guy getting in!!!

By: Vytautas

Vytautas — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:53:48 +0000

@ prediger
“and many german gays feel the same.”

And many more no doubt voted ‘Schwarz’ (CDU) or ‘Gelb’ (FDP). It always annoys me that some people think we should all vote the same (‘left’), just because we’re gay. We come in all shapes and sizes, religions and political parties – just as it should be. And it simply isn’t true to call the CDU or FDP ‘anti-gay’, there’s no suggestion they intend any such prgram.

By: Brenton

Brenton — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:59:27 +0000

The important thing, no matter what party he leads, is that Westerwelle IS gay , out, has his partner with him and that is a wonderful role model for other young gay people in Germany. From the vote the Free Democrats received at the election, there obviously is not a problem about gender differnece with the German electorate either.

By: Samuel

Samuel — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:40:19 +0000

@ prediger
“and many german gays feel the same.”

Yeah, but many german gays are dumb. Just like you.

By: prediger

prediger — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:06:01 +0000

westerwelle’s homosexuality had been an often laughed-at “secret” here in germany for the biggest time of his political career. he just came out when he was absolutely sure that the risk would be small enough to do so – other politicians had paved the way.

his liberal party keeps on making nice promises to gays and, whenever it comes to a voting, they actually vote AGAINST gay rights. in a coalition with the conservative CDU (which is the only likely alternative at the moment) all the nice gay rights fairytales in the liberal party’s programm will be immedately thrown over board, to concentrate on preparing the next neo-liberal catastrophy.

no reason at all for a big cheer about this bigot homo. i rather feel ashamed than proud to have this ugly guy being one of “the family”. and many german gays feel the same.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 07:27:25 +0000

Wonderful! I really hope he gets the position

By: Tavdy79

Tavdy79 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:42:44 +0000

Why should having a gay foreign minister be an issue? The EU has already had at least one openly gay & partnered commissioner that I can think of (Mandelson) and the Icelandic PM is a lesbian. If a stone-heart like Ahmadinejad wants to get his knickers in a twist, that’s his prerogative – but no nation should be expected to choose its ministers according to the prejudices of others.

By: rjb

rjb — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:27:16 +0000

While I’m sure we’re all terribly proud of gay Guido, the fact that he represents the libertarian and “pro-business” Free Democratic Party is slightly alarming in a climate where this very ideology has almost brought about the economic collapse of the western world. The possibility that Germany’s government might be dragged further to the right threatens the economic recovery of one of Europe’s most important exporters.

By: Simon Murphy

Simon Murphy — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:03:37 +0000

Oh wow. If he gets it then he should insist on bringing his partner to places like Iran and Jamaica and Russia. Wonder how those backwards cave-dwellers will like that.

By: K Hunter

K Hunter — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:20:55 +0000

Fantastic!