Germany’s transgender community confronts surge in far-right disinformation

The transgender community in Germany faces an escalation in disinformation, primarily fueled by far-right groups amid attempts to pass the country’s Self-Determination Act. This legislative proposal, designed to ease the legal process of gender change on official documents, was initially lauded as a progressive step by Germany’s majority Social Democrat (SPD), Green, and neoliberal Free Democrat (FDP) coalition. However, Deutsche Welle reports that it has now become a flashpoint for intense political debates.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been particularly active in exploiting this issue, using it to stir divisive political rhetoric much like the American Republican Party has been doing.

“There’s no money for pensioners, schools and the railway under the current government, but they now want to introduce nationwide gender identity advice centers for all those who don’t know if they are male or female,” the deputy leader of AfD, Beatrix von Storch, told the German Bundestag last November. She questioned to what end documents could be “falsified” if one “can choose” to be a woman by wearing “painted fingernails and mini skirts.”

The German publication Welthighlighted FDP member Justice Minister Marco Buschmann’s leadership in this legislative change. In an interview with Welt, Buschmann conveyed the act’s objective to simplify the process of changing gender registration. Furthermore, in an interview with ZDF television, Buschmann criticized the current legal process for gender change, saying, “Imagine that you simply want to live your life and you don’t wish anyone anything bad, and then you’re questioned about what your sexual fantasies are, what underwear you wear and similar things. Those affected have found this questioning very degrading.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented similar strategies by right-wing groups in the U.S. to undermine transgender rights. According to the SPLC, these groups isolate transgender rights advocates from traditional allies, using tactics that frame transgender rights as contrary to the interests of other marginalized groups.