Germany president criticizes US ‘self-anointed elite’

Germany President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday, April 4, 2025, criticized elements of US domestic and foreign policies.

His criticism stemmed from the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in public institutions to the weakening of the transatlantic alliance.

Steinmeier warned that US President Donald Trump and his administration are threatening to turn back the clock on equality for the LGBTQ+ community.

He further stated while speaking at an event marking the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the German LSVD+ rights organization at Schloss Bellevue in Berlin:

“In the United States, a self-anointed elite wants to turn back the clock.

“We risk falling back into old social battles which we thought we’d left behind,” he added.

He warned of the “danger of a tipping point.”

In Germany, the president is the official head of state but serves in a largely ceremonial role compared to the chancellor.

The chancellor on his part, serves as the head of government.

The president is nevertheless expected to lend a moral direction to socio-political debates.

Steinmeier criticized US institutions, businesses and universities that he said thus far have failed to stand up to Trump.

He stressed on issues such as:

• the acknowledgement of two genders only,
• the planned exclusion of trans people from the army and,
• the scrapping of diversity programs.”

Germany: ‘LGBTQ+ rights assaulted and violated daily‘:
Turning his attention back to Germany, Steinmeier lamented that LGBTQ+ people still have their “dignity assaulted and violated on a daily basis.”

He described an increase in homophobic and transphobic hate crime, as well as threats made against Christopher Street Day parades by neo-Nazis.

“We cannot accept these attacks with a shrug of the shoulders,” he warned.

He called on Germans to actively defend and practice the values of “tolerance and respect” anchored in the country’s constitution.

Earlier in the day, Steinmeier had attended the opening of the second Westphalian Peace Conference in the western German city of Münster.

According to DW..com, he used the occasion to call on Europe to take on more responsibility for its own security and defense.

“We Europeans must now focus on what is important to us and take care of our own protection,” he said.

“We know that we all have to do more for [our] deterrence and defense.”

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