Berlin journey manual Spartacus reviews that Germany has misplaced a number of its beauty as a vacation spot for gays and lesbians. The reason is growing violence towards homosexuals. But not every person stocks this view.
In the spring, editors of the Berlin homosexual journey guide Spartacus sounded the alarm. In the latest Gay Travel Index (GTI) ranking, Germany had fallen sharply from 0.33 region to twenty third. The cause, Leander Milbrecht of Spartacus advised DW, turned into the “growth in reported crimes in opposition to and attacks on lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) folks.” He pointed out that during 2018 in Berlin myself the police counted 225 crimes in opposition to queer human beings, 54 extra than in 2017. “Queer” is the time period used to describe those who deviate from heteronormativity.
The Berlin gay anti-violence challenge Maneo registered 382 attacks on queer humans in 2018, fifty-eight greater than in the previous year. Albrecht asserts that similar tendencies may be observed all through Germany in keeping with figures from the government. Additionally, professionals count on an excessive quantity of unreported individuals who do not now file this kind of attack. The editorial team of Spartacus, a renowned issuer of journey guides for gay men, compiles the GTI for 197 nations and areas every year the use of a range of standards: Are there any threats of persecution, the death penalty, or violent attacks? Is there kingdom-sanctioned discrimination, together with tour restrictions for HIV-positive people, or are Pride parades banned? And what about civil rights? This also includes marriage equality, which has become legal in Germany in 2017.
In the eyes of the international community, Germany has been seen as liberal and tolerant united states of America. And Berlin as a proper vacation spot for persecuted lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people, and queers fleeing their homelands. Could all this have changed so dramatically? Should a travel caution be issued, mainly now that the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parades are being celebrated everywhere in Germany’s cities with many LGBTQ tourists attending? Jan Noll, editor-in-leader of the queer Berlin town magazine “Siegessäule” (Victory Column), urged warning in an interview with DW. “I wouldn’t say that homophobic assaults in Germany have taken on a volume that would discourage queer human beings from journeying right here,” he stated.
Noll, like different specialists, assumes that the growth within the numbers is likewise because of the multiplied willingness of victims to file the assaults. David Staeglich-Büge, a board member at the Berlin CSD, celebrated with a parade this weekend, sees it further. He could be happy if Germany occupied the pinnacle spot within the protection class, he advised DW. But for Berlin, nothing has changed: “The experience of protection inside the Berlin community remains very robust.” Nevertheless, there’s “growing uncertainty” in the community, stated Staeglich. For him but, it derives extra from the political sphere: “The risk from the right is visible to be more than the threat from hate crime,” he stated. According to the organizers, all of this has no impact on this year’s Berlin CSD celebrations, the most important and maximum global in Germany.
On the contrary: The fiftieth anniversary 12 months of the New York Stonewall uprising of gay men in opposition to arbitrary police movement is anticipated to look even extra participants from everywhere in the world than ordinary inside the German capital. Obviously, they’re no longer discouraged from using reports of increasing violence in opposition to the LGBTQ network. Nevertheless, the fact that Germany has not reacted to the upward push inside the variety of suggested assaults with a motion plan has, within the view of “Spartacus,” had a similarly poor impact on the rating in the GTI. “French President Emmanuel Macron reacted to a similar increase,” stated Leander Albrecht. In Germany, alternatively, the handiest states like Berlin have followed motion plans. At the federal level, no comparable initiative has yet been deliberate.
“Spartacus” sees the 0.33 huge minus factor for Germany as a travel destination inside the lack of current legislation for transgender people and queers. The law at the 1/3 choice, which came into force in December 2018 and permitted the gender specification “divers” in addition to male and lady for the primary time, has been sharply criticized by way of the LGBTQ community. According to Jan Noll, the editor-in-leader of the “Siegessäule” (Victory Column) magazine, it’s miles still “every so often surprisingly tough mainly for trans* humans to exchange their marital status.”
