In the meantime, one is prepared for provocations when AfD MPs go to the lectern in the Bundestag. This time it was parliamentary group leader Beatrix von Storch who pushed the boundaries of decency in parliament. The target of their insults: a transgender MP from the Greens.
The AfD has once again lived up to its reputation as a provocateur in parliament. The focus this time: the deputy party and parliamentary group leader Beatrix von Storch, who has drawn cross-party sharp criticism with statements about the transgender MP Tessa Ganserer (Greens). In a debate on International Women’s Day on March 8 in the Bundestag on Thursday, von Storch accused the majority of MPs (“almost everyone here”) of clinging to a “gender ideology”. “They claim that gender has nothing to do with biology. And everyone can somehow determine their own gender.”
Then von Storch said: “If colleague Markus Ganserer wears a skirt, lipstick, heels, then that’s completely fine. But it’s his private matter. Biologically and legally he is and will remain a man. And if he as such has the green women’s quota moves into the Bundestag and is listed here as a woman, that is simply illegal.”
Everyone was outraged by Storch’s statements
Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) asked von Storch from the Presidium for “respect for colleague Tessa Ganserer”. On Twitter, she later spoke of a “terrible defamation”. Green party leader Britta Haßelmann called the statements “disgusting” and “shocking”. “What Parliamentarian Storch has allowed herself to do in this House is baseless, baseless, homophobic and deeply inhuman.”
“Tessa Ganserer is one of us,” said Hasselmann. “None of us have to judge or talk about it or decide how this woman exercises her right to self-determination.” There was broad applause for this. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach spoke on Twitter of a “shame” with regard to von Storch’s statements. “All parties except the AfD oppose the inhuman speech,” wrote the SPD politician.
The spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group responsible for transgender issues, Jürgen Lenders, accused the AfD politician of having “no idea” about sexual identity and gender diversity. “The insult to the colleague of the Greens, Tessa Ganserer, is unbearable. I condemn this transphobic attack against her.”
Ganserer gave the first speech in the Bundestag
Ganserer herself later gave her first speech in the Bundestag on the subject of sustainable development, without going into the previous statements. The 44-year-old is one of two trans women in the new Bundestag and previously sat in the Bavarian state parliament. In November 2018, Ganserer came out as a transident. Trans people are people who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth.
On the ballot paper for the federal election, Ganserer was written with the male first name that she had discarded. Like many others in her situation, she refuses to officially change her first name and gender under the Transgender Act. The 40-year-old law stipulates that those affected may only do this after a psychological assessment and a court decision – they often have to put up with very intimate questions.
Source: Stern
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