Berlin's mayor on
Tuesday rejected criticism from the conservative
opposition for his decision to send a greeting to a leather
and latex fetish gathering in the German capital,
accusing his opponents of being "small-minded." Mayor
Klaus Wowereit welcomed the participants of the Folsom
Europe festival in Berlin this weekend, saying in a written
message: "We are proud that people of varied origins and
predilections feel at home in our city and celebrate
together."
A top regional
official with the conservative Christian Democrats
described the message from Wowereit, a gay member of
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder 's Social Democrats, as
"unspeakable." "Glorifying violence and sadomasochistic
excesses is to begin opting out of society," said Nikolas
Zimmer, the Christian Democrats' leader in the Berlin
state legislature.
His Social
Democrat counterpart, Michael Mueller, said the
conservatives were blowing up the incident in
campaigning for September 18 elections. In an
interview with the Bild daily newspaper, Wowereit
himself shrugged aside the criticism. "A greeting
message is always an advertisement as well, above all
for international guests--we want to see them in
Berlin," he was quoted as saying. "If this doesn't suit
anyone, they don't have to go."
"Mr. Zimmer is
small-minded," Wowereit said, according to the paper.
"Berlin is open; Mr. Zimmer has to learn that.... And so
long as nothing forbidden is happening, I expect
tolerance." (AP)