Abstract

On 22 November 2005 Angela Merkel became Germany’s first female chancellor, dubbed ‘Miss Germany’ by a national tabloid (Bild, 11 October 2005). Ten months previously, Asli Bayram had become the first woman of non-German descent to win the beauty contest of that title. In the run-up to the Berlin mayoral elections of June 2001, when he would be voted into office, Klaus Wowereit had declared, ‘I’m gay and that’s just fine’ ¹ (‘Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so’). The Berlin Republic of the 21st century seems a progressive nation as far as gender and sexuality are concerned: women can be voted into the highest political office, women and men with non-German backgrounds can achieve public acclaim, and being openly gay seems to do no harm to your political career.