German “queer officer”: Children should be able to have more than two parents

According to the Green politician and queer commissioner Sven Lehmann, a child should be allowed to have up to four custodians. “Now every third child grows up in a family situation that does not correspond to a classic marriage.” The Christian Democratic CDU/CSU parliamentary group criticised the statements as “an arbitrary concept of parenthood”.

If, for example, mother and mother separated and both had new partners, the two new partners should “then be able to get minor custody if they want,” Lehmann demanded. Not only would rainbow families benefit from such a change, but also blended families explained the queer officer. At the same time, the children are legally better protected. This writes the Christian German magazine PRO.

Even as a child, it depressed him when others were excluded, says Lehmann to Tagesschau. As an adult, the 42-year-old from Cologne experienced discrimination himself. When he walks hand in hand with his husband, he has often been stared at or verbally abused. “It doesn’t bother me that much myself, but it breaks a lot of people.”

As the federal government’s first queer commissioner, Lehmann wants to create a climate where people can be different without fear. The traffic light government has created the office of “Commissioner for the Acceptance of Sexual and Gender Diversity”.

Problems

The appointment of “queer officer” Sven Lehmann caused negative comments on social media. It was often mocked that the country had no other problems.

The Greens have always been committed to sexual minorities. Regardless of all other differences, the Free Democrats agreed on many points with the Greens on this issue. The Social Democrats have long since moved closer to green positions.

Electorate

According to German Magazine Focus, the size of the LGBT electorate should not be underestimated. In an analysis of the Union’s election defeat, the Berlin CDU MP Thomas Heilmann wrote that “depending on the survey, the queer community in Germany makes up around eight per cent of the population, and that of regular churchgoers a good one per cent.”

In the policy program of the new traffic light coalition, there is openness for multiple-parenthood. In other countries, it still does not exist. In the Netherlands, this has been a suggestion by an advising committee and the LGBT movement.