AfD party leader defends same-sex relationships despite party stance
The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, who lives in a same-sex civil partnership, distanced herself on Sunday from part of a regional party manifesto backing the traditional family model, saying she lives “something different.”
“They can write whatever they like. I live something different,” Weidel said in response to a question from RTL/ntv about the election manifesto of the AfD in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The manifesto states: “An intact family consisting of a mother, father and children has been proven to be the best foundation for a child’s healthy development.”
Weidel lives in a registered civil partnership with a woman, with whom she is raising two children.
“If you ask me personally: my children have the best upbringing and the best opportunities,” Weidel said on the sidelines of the AfD party conference in the eastern city of Erfurt.
“We are now living in a completely different reality. So same-sex relationships must be treated equally,” she added.
Weidel nonetheless defended her party’s fundamental stance towards the traditional family model. “When, as a politician, I speak of a societal ideal - and that is currently the traditional family - I can advocate it and there is no contradiction,” she said.
Source: DPA International via Microsoft’s MSN
The afd started out of hate/fear of war refugees of the Arabian spring and euro criticism from the Greek bankruptcy.
It’s not as much of a contradiction as you would think. It used to be less ultra right with a bourgeois wing that was well educated. There has been a schism since with those people leaving in the face of a blatant radical and extreme right. They always were (far) right, still.
I tried to be somewhat neutral, speaking from memory and not fact. Feel free to read up if you need citations :)
The emphasis here is on “used to”. It would not have been as much of a contratiction ten years ago, but the times of the retired economy professors are gone. And Weidel herself is a creature of the contemporary ultra-right AfD, so the contradiction is as strong as it seems.