Germany has formally apologised for decades of discrimination against gay people in their armed forces. The country changed its policy against gay people serving in 2000.
A study commissioned the defence ministry found that there was systematic discrimination in the Bundeswehr – the military of West Germany and since 1990 of reunited Germany from 1955 through to the change of policy in 2000. Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer offered an apology.
“I very much regret the practice of discrimination against homosexuals in the Bundeswehr, which stood for the policy of that time,” Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a statement. “I apologize to those who suffered because of it.”
The Minister is no eager to advance legislation that allow people affected by the ban against LGBT people to be rehabilitated with the help of the government.
The study showed that even when it was no longer a dismissible offence, there were still directions that gay officers were not to be trusted in leadership roles that involved younger men.
OIP Staff
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