Berlin: New role for official LGBTQ+ advocate
Reuters reported on January 14 that Germany's first LGBTQ+ commissioner, Sven Lehmann, says the country still has a long way to go to equality. The full title of Lehmann's role is Commissioner for the Acceptance of Sexual and Gender Diversity, and it was created under the new Social Democrat-Green-Liberal coalition government's plan for "cultural modernization."

"Since marriage for all became law, since it has been possible for everyone to marry the partner they want, many have believed that now absolute equality has been achieved," Lehmann said. "But it hasn't."

Reuters noted that Germany's reputation as a sexually progressive country belies its relatively late arrival at marriage equality, and the discriminatory laws that remain. For example, in the case of two women having a child, only one of the women will count as a legal parent until the other spends a great deal of time and money going through an adoption process. The new government reportedly has plans to change such laws.

Warsaw: Parliament debates "traditional" education
Reuters reported on January 12 that the Polish parliament is debating a bill put forth by the conservative nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which would allow government-appointed school supervisors to block aspects of instruction that would be "a threat to the morality of children," especially in the case of sexual education. The PiS says the bill is meant to protect children and defend traditional Christian values, while critics say it could easily block students from information on LGBT people and reproductive rights, as part of what they call a broader effort against liberal values in general.

"It will certainly have a freezing effect," said Krzyszstof Baszczynski, deputy head of the Polish Teacher's Union. "If you are running a school, taking decisions... and you know someone may not like them, then the autonomy of the school, of the principal, the parents' and teachers' autonomy become just fiction."