Tessa Ganserer: "Transgender people are portrayed as figures of fun"

First trans MP - Tessa Ganserer: "Transgender people are portrayed as figures of fun"

Ms Ganserer, you were the first trans woman in a German parliament and are now considered a queer identification figure in the Bundestag. How important was your coming out for your personal politicization?Personally, I would like to talk less about trans identity because it is all too often used to stigmatize. It still gives the impression that these are two different pairs of shoes: here the supposedly biological women, there the transgender women. But science is much more advanced than that; gender goes far beyond physical characteristics. Regarding your question: I come from a simple, not particularly political working-class family from the Bavarian forest. As a child, I was affected by the major environmental issues of the time. Forest dieback, acid rain, Chernobyl. That left its mark on me.

When did you realize that you wanted to get involved yourself?The first federal election in which I was allowed to vote was in 1998. I had already had a keen interest in politics before then. It wasn't enough for me to simply cast my vote. Because of the environmental issues, but also the socio-political approaches, it was always clear that I wanted to be active with the Greens.

When did queer issues become important?When I was elected to the Bavarian state parliament in 2013, I first helped shape mobility policy. I studied forestry, which is why the dismantling and privatization of the Bavarian state forests by the then Minister President Edmund Stoiber was an important issue for me. At the time, I would have liked nothing more than to focus on these environmental issues. But I am not naive. I knew that the focus would change as soon as I came out.

What happened in 2019 caused a worldwide stir: foreign media were present at my press conference in the state parliament. I received many personal letters, from all over the world in fact. And many people encouraged me to go into federal politics. It was clear to me that I had to run for the Bundestag because that's where our rights are decided.

Were you aware from the outset how massive the exclusion would be? To this day, AfD MPs refuse to addressyou as a woman, and the extent of it remains hard to imagine. But of course I was aware that I would be exposed to hatred, which is why I had deluded myself for many years that I would be able to avoid coming out and transitioning. By the time I gave the press conference, I didn't care whether my political career might fail as a result. You can't let the misanthropy of others be your own guide. I see it as the most important task of a politician to have an attitude and set an example of acceptance. But that's not enough, we have to abolish structural discrimination in law and order. And that is what we are currently doing with the Self-Determination Act.

Tessa Ganserer with top Green politicians Ricarda Lang and Katharina Fegebank at the Hamburg CSD 2023

Older feminists like Alice Schwarzer criticize the Self-Determination Act and are branded as TERF - which stands for "Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists". Are you trying to understand the arguments of these people?

But have the citizens been sufficiently involved in the creation and design of this law?I understand that it is a challenge for some people to give up their binary gender image. But after almost half a century of stringent case law of the Federal Constitutional Court in favor of transgender people, the clear resolution of the Council of Europe to implement changes in civil status without prior psychological assessment, I do not want to see fundamental rights put up for debate. There are fears among the population because the only thing that seems to be permanent today is change. But actually, everything is already written in the Basic Law; we no longer need a public debate on whether the sentence "Human dignity is inviolable" should really apply to everyone.

There is currently a clearly noticeable backlash. Gender stars are disappearing from schools and authorities, celebrities are railing against the woke movement.I doubt that there are as many of these people as it might seem.The media likes to exaggerate critical voices. I don't see a division in society, but simply a broad debate. But I find it difficult to understand how someone can deliberately stir up demonstrably unfounded fears, such as that there could be an abuse of the right to self-determination - while at the same time we have a huge problem with real assaults, sexualized violence against women by men and a frightening rate of femicides. We should talk about that.

In some American states and also in Italy, the rights of transgender people are being curtailed again. How frightening is that for you?Republican and right-wing populist politicians are deliberately playing on fears to stir up hatred. It is an extremely worrying and sad development. Neil Datta, the founder of the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development in Brussels, has analyzed the flow of money and uncovered the causes. He has analyzed money flows and revealed that hundreds of millions have flowed into Europe from Russia and the USA to support anti-feminist and ultra-conservative groups. In this respect, I am concerned when well-known CSU politicians travel to Florida and cuddle up to Republicans who want to systematically ban transgender people from the public sphere. The same goes for the unfortunate alliance with Viktor Orbán.

If the gender spectrum is really as diverse as you say and wish it to be: Then why should it be a problem if cis women want protected spaces where people with penises don't have access?Have you ever been to a women's shelter? You can't just walk in there, they take a very close look at who is allowed in. But at the same time, all women deserve protection, especially if they have experienced violence from men, regardless of whether they are trans or cis. Women's shelters make this decision autonomously. I don't understand why you, as a journalist, stir up such fears and keep giving them a platform. I recommend that you speak to women's shelters, then you will quickly see that these issues are the least of the problems. You can't question fundamental rights on the basis of a few individual cases.

Doyou see transgender people misrepresented in the media?Especially in fictional series, it's always the same narrative. Transgender people are not taken seriously, are portrayed as jokes or as victims. They are often just tragic fates that end up in the red light district. If they are not killed, they are also often portrayed as psychopaths. Unfortunately, these stereotypes are deeply rooted in our society. It's difficult to discuss this because it's all very hurtful. What do some people think will happen after the Self-Determination Act is passed? I do wonder about that.

Look at Switzerland, where there is a similar law.The world hasn't changed there either, the Swiss clocks are as punctual as ever. Without minimizing experiences of discrimination, it has to be said that, on the whole, things are going well. We are already here and it works in everyday life, we get a lot of respect. Most transgender people want the same thing as everyone else: to live in peace.

AfD leader Alice Weidel recently said that although she is a lesbian married woman, she doesn't want to see herself as queer under any circumstances.But perhaps it is a good thing that she said something like that, because people should realize that the pluralistic, open and free society in which we live is in serious danger. I hope it will finally be recognized that this great good cannot be taken for granted.