Openly Gay Politicians
As of October 2009, there are several prominent German politicians who are openly gay. Among them are Berlin's mayor Klaus Wowereit (from the Social Democratic Party, having outed himself with the famous words "Ich bin schwul – und das ist auch gut so!" ), Volker Beck and Gerhard Schick (from the Green Party), Johannes Kahrs (from the Social Democratic Party), Stefan Kaufmann (from the Christian Democratic Union), Michael Kauch and Guido Westerwelle, the current Foreign Minister and former head of the liberal Free Democratic Party. In addition, Hamburg's former mayor Ole von Beust (Christian Democratic Union) didn't deny anything when his father outed him but considered it private matter. After leaving office he began talking about his homosexuality. In July 2007, Karin Wolff, then Minister of Education for Hesse, came out as a lesbian.
Read more about this topic: LGBT In Germany
Famous quotes containing the words openly gay, openly, gay and/or politicians:
“You can feel it, in a hundred little ways year after year. It is so certain and inevitable, that the next century will be a time in which it is not simply safe, but commonplace, to be openly gay.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“What is a man if he is not a thief who openly charges as much as he can for the goods he sells?”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)
“I am savage enough to prefer the woods, the wilds, and the independence of Monticello, to all the brilliant pleasures of this gay capital [Paris].”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“I’ve always wondered why European politicians as a group seemed brighter than American politicians as a group. Maybe it’s because many American politicians have the race issue to fall back on. They become lazy, suspicious of innovative ideas, and as a result American institutions atrophy.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)