Overview
- The Bundestag raised the rainbow flag on Sunday for the International Day against Homophobia, using a date that also recalls a 2002 vote rehabilitating victims of Nazi justice.
- Bundestag President Julia Klöckner kept her once-a-year rule, saying only occasions with a direct parliamentary link qualify and that Berlin’s Pride parade does not.
- Opposition lawmakers and queer groups welcomed the symbol but called it insufficient, urging concrete safeguards such as adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Article 3 of the Basic Law.
- Reports note a rise in crimes against queer people in recent years, and the federal queer envoy Sophie Koch said visibility helps but public safety must stay the priority.
- The approach departs from former president Bärbel Bas’s broader practice and follows Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s defense of restraint, while the Bundesrat still flies the flag for Berlin’s Pride.