As of: March 27, 2024, 5:26 p.m
By: Jana Stabener
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AfD politicians repeatedly attract attention through homophobic statements.
Some homosexuals choose them anyway.
How does that fit together?
Is the AfD the most popular party among gay men?
At least if you believe a survey by men's magazine on the dating platform Romeo, in which 10,000 users took part.
With 22.3 percent, the AfD is in first place, closely followed by the CDU/CSU with 20.6 percent.
For comparison: In the last state elections in Bavaria and Hesse in 2023, the AfD received 14.6 and 18.4 percent of the total population.
The even higher Romeo numbers are all the more surprising - after all, the AfD is repeatedly noticed for its homophobia.
Maximilian Krah, the top candidate for the European elections, made homophobic comments on TikTok.
Why do gay men still vote for him and his party colleagues?
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BuzzFeed News Germany
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Why do gay men vote for the AfD?
When
BuzzFeed News Germany
from IPPEN.MEDIA asked AfD voter expert Andreas Hövermann from the Economic and Social Sciences Institute (WSI) this question, he pointed out that the survey was not representative.
In general, a large number of participants is not a criterion for a good and representative survey if it is limited to such a specific target group - in this case the users of the queer dating platform Romeo.
It is questionable whether 22 percent of gay men in Germany actually vote for the AfD.
Nevertheless, it is not surprising that the party is also popular among this population group, says cultural and political scientist Katharina Hajek, who teaches gender politics and anti-genderism in right-wing populism at the University of Koblenz.
“The AfD is not a monolithic bloc, but still hosts different currents today,” she tells
BuzzFeed News Germany
.
“While right-wing nationalists and radicals like Höcke are openly homophobic, there are also openly gay activists and groups in the AfD.
Being gay and being right-wing are not mutually exclusive.” This is also shown by openly gay AfD politicians such as Kay Gottschalk, Sven Tritschler and of course parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel, who described herself as “not queer”.
Why do gay men vote for the AfD?
(Symbolic image) © Cavan Images/IMAGO
More on the topic: TikTok in resistance to the AfD – “we can pretend we’re voting green”
AfD positions itself as a “homonational party”
Even more important: “The AfD has positioned itself as a homonational party since the 'Cologne New Year's Eve' in 2015 at the latest.
“That means it pushes a narrative according to which misogyny, sexual violence and homophobia are ‘imported’ problems that come with the migration of young Muslim men in particular to Germany,” says Hajek.
In this way, the AfD cleverly combines gender policy with migration policy.
“More restrictive immigration policies and deportations are being sold as a solution to homophobic violence,” said Hajek.
Of course, this contradicts all statistics on sexual violence, including that against queer people.
More on the topic: Seven conspiracy theories that AfD politicians spread
Gay AfD voters complain about “hatred of everything male and German”
Alice Weidel in particular repeatedly uses this narrative of the “supposedly backward, Muslim other” as a lesbian woman, for example by stating that she sometimes no longer feels safe from attacks and street violence on the way home with her wife.
The cultural scientist believes that this could convince some queer people to vote for the AfD.
This becomes clear in the social media comments of homosexual AfD voters or in articles in relevant right-wing magazines in which they have their say.
There they speak of “misogynistic and homophobic men from countries in the global south” and complain about an “almost eliminatory hatred of everything male and German,” to which they also include themselves as “gay patriots” (
Weltwoche
, March 24, 2024).
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More on the topic: Expert on AfD election results: “Young people often vote more radically”