“Romeo has a very special clientele,” my friend Sebastian joked over a beer in Möbel Olfe. We were talking about the online dating and sex platform that has a real hold in Germany. Setting up an account was practically part of the Anmeldung process for gay Berliners back in the day. Friends used to joke that if the far-right squad ever wanted to round gays up again, we’re all right there in the Romeo database.
However, as of last month, it seems the gays may be the ones doing the rounding up. In February, Romeo released shocking results from their survey on the Bundestag elections, conducted between January 24 and February 2. Some 60,500 people answered which German party would get their support if the vote were happening at that time.
Queers flirting with right-wing politics is not necessarily something new.
The findings put Germany’s radical far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) well ahead of the other parties – securing 27.9 percent of the vote. The Greens took second with 19.9 percent. Far-right parties often support ultra-conservative views, particularly when it comes to what the family should look like.
Although headed by a married lesbian, the AfD has put forth the idea of abolishing gay marriage in their programme. Every time they delegitimise queer lifestyles, it opens up possibilities for socially accepted violence against queer people.
Queers flirting with right-wing politics is not necessarily something new. Erst Röhm, Hitler’s head of the dreaded Sturmabteilung (SA), the Storm Troopers, was gay. Today, the AfD’s chancellor candidate, Alice Weidel, is an out lesbian, something she’s been increasingly making a show of in the media.
Everyone loves to draw similarities between the Nazi era and events happening today – but it’s becoming increasingly difficult not to make those comparisons.
Why would queers vote for the far-right though? You can look mostly at white (cis) gay men and women: gaining some semblance of acceptance in society allows people to show their own ugly sides.
Luckily, not everyone falls under this bracket. In Berlin, and 54 other cities around Germany, there has been queer pushback against the political swing to the right. On February 15, the first Winter CSD began symbolically at 11:55 (Fünf vor Zwölf, meaning time is running out) and urged people to Wähl Liebe (a double meaning encouraging people to choose, and vote, for love). The grumpy Berliner in me rolled my eyes at first, but with a collective purpose of getting queer people to vote in their best interests, it was a commendable action.
There is another light to hold onto: while the results of Romeo’s survey certainly sent a buzz through the gay community, it has to be said that it’s not a scientifically sound or representative poll. Anyone online could click the link and skew the results – Romeo itself admitted that interference was possible. Another poll by queer news portal Queer.de put the Greens in a strong lead.
The AfD has increased its influence on national politics… and possibly the gays have helped them get there. Let’s hope they considered before they voted – unlike Weidel did before becoming that face of the party – that if the AfD does get everything it wants, they will be some of the first to suffer the consequences.
