Germany appoints first ever commissioner for LGBTQ issues

Named on Wednesday, the new commissioner’s role is to develop a “national action plan” to promote acceptance and protect diversity.

Green MP Sven Lehmann, 42, was selected to take on the newly created role, saying in a statement that “Germany should become a leader in the fight against discrimination.”

The government would pursue “progressive queer policy” and ensure that the “fundamental rights of trans, inter, and non-binary people are fully enforced,” Lehmann said.

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Between 2018 and 2021, Lehmann was the spokesman on LGBT and social issues for the Green party in the Bundestag.

Following elections in September, the Greens, together with the liberal Free Democrats, joined a coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Social Democrats.

The first parliament in the post-Angela Merkel era has more women, and is younger and more ethnically diverse than its predecessors.

But despite its broader representation, the Bundestag, with its overwhelmingly white and male make-up, still does not fully reflect the modern face of Germany.

The gender figures vary widely among the parties, though the Greens boast a caucus of 59 percent women, including two transgender women.