In June, the Federal Cabinet adopted a proposal aimed at classifying Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and India as so-called “safe countries of origin.” Yet, in these states, LGBTI people continue to face imprisonment for several years, torture, and widespread societal violence.

In August, the newly elected coalition government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union announced its commitment to end Germany’s asylum admission programmes. Among those targeted is the Federal Admission Program Afghanistan, which had been established to relocate and protect LGBTI people exposed to systematic persecution, rape, and murder under Taliban rule.

In May, the Federal Criminal Police Office, together with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, published the latest statistics on politically motivated crime in Germany. A total of 84,172 such offences were recorded – the highest figure ever documented and more than 40 percent above the previous year’s levels. The majority of these crimes were attributed to far-right extremism. Among the categories of hate crimes, 1,765 offences targeted individuals on the basis of sexual orientation, representing a

17.75 percent rise, while 1,152 offences were linked to gender diversity, an alarming 34.89 percent increase.

In 2023, the Conference of Interior Ministers signed off on a report from its working group on combating homophobic and transphobic violence, endorsing a set of recommendations and recognising that existing protections for LGBTI people remain inadequate. To date the report has not been made public, although federal and state authorities were asked to present progress updates by autumn 2025. Ahead of that deadline, the LSVD⁺ surveyed all 16 state interior ministries and the federal police about their implementation efforts. Their responses indicate that many states have taken few concrete steps or have offered little transparency, despite the persistence of violence targeting queer people.

In July, Education Minister Karin Prien imposed a ban on gender-inclusive language within her ministry, prohibiting staff from using the asterisk or other special characters in official communications. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Office has underscored that such prohibitions contradict constitutional protections against unequal treatment.

In late September, the Federal Council approved a motion submitted by the governments of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein to launch a constitutional amendment process via the Bundesrat, seeking to amend Article 3(3) of the German Constitution (Basic Law), the provision that prohibits discrimination. When the constitution was drafted, LGBTI people were left out as a protected group despite their persecution under National Socialism. This omission enabled decades of criminalisation and repression in the Federal Republic. Supporters of the initiative argue that the historical gap should be closed to guarantee constitutional protection for LGBTI people now and in the future. No amendment had been adopted by the end of 2025.

In  June,  the  District  Court  of  Pforzheim ruled that Germany’s current law of descent (Abstammungsrecht) is unconstitutional in its treatment of rainbow families, finding that the exclusive automatic recognition of the birth mother as the sole legal parent violates the fundamental rights of both children and parents in same-sex families. The court referred the question of constitutional compatibility to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, noting that existing law discriminates by preventing families with two mothers from being recognised as such at birth. Several other specialist courts have initiated similar Normenkontrollverfahren (review of legal norms) on the same grounds, and one constitutional complaint remains pending before the Federal Constitutional Court.

In July, the German Ministry of Justice presented a draft reform of the law of descent intended to implement the Federal Constitutional Court’s April 2024 ruling on family life and parental rights under Article 6 of the Basic Law. The proposal mainly clarifies how paternity can be challenged. However, it does not address the automatic recognition of both parents in rainbow families, leaving existing legal inequalities unresolved. It also places greater emphasis on biological parenthood and does not clarify whether private sperm donors could be allowed to contest legal parenthood despite prior agreements.

Several Christopher Street Day (CSD) events in Germany this year took place under heightened police protection, reflecting growing concerns about threats to the LGBTI community.

In late October, a security report by the Amadeu Antonio Foundation documented a record level of right-wing extremist attacks on Christopher Street Day (CSD) events across Germany. According to the monitoring, of 245 CSDs held in 2025, at least

110 were disrupted or attacked, with at least 53 incidents linked to organised right-wing networks, including counter-demonstrations and mobilisations by extremist parties and youth groups. Queer-hostile offences recorded by civil society and reflected in federal hate-crime statistics increased by over 40 % during the year, and eastern Germany experienced a disproportionate share of disruptions. In response to the heightened threat environment, the parliamentary group Die Linke tabled a motion in the Bundestag calling for strengthened protection of CSDs and a coherent strategy to address queer-hostile violence; the motion was debated but had not been adopted by year’s end.

In February, doctors, psychologists and psychotherapists experienced in supporting trans and non-binary people issued a joint statement rejecting political interference in medical practice and condemning attempts to curtail health-related rights for intersex, trans and non-binary persons. The statement responded in part to a November 2024 motion passed by the Bavarian Landtag with the support of CSU, Free Voters and AfD deputies, which called on the state government to advocate federally for limiting trans-affirming medical treatments for minors, including puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries to “exceptional cases”. The experts also expressed concern about party programmes advocating the abolition or restriction of Germany’s Self-Determination Act (SBGG), which since late 2024 allows adults to amend their names and gender markers without medical or judicial barriers.

In January, the Electronic Patient Record (ePa) entered its pilot phase in three regions, with the intention of later becoming the default for all people with statutory health insurance unless they actively opt out. At the time, LSVD+ NGO stressed that the planned design of the ePa created risks for patients whose medical information is especially sensitive, including many LGBTI people. The organisation warned that details such as HIV status, PrEP use, gender-affirming treatments, mental health diagnoses or reproductive care are highly personal, yet under the proposed system they would be accessible to all authorised providers. Moreover, even if patients attempted to hide individual documents, sensitive information would still be traceable through prescriptions or insurance billing data. LSVD+ reported that this had already sparked concern within the LGBTI community, reviving fears of targeted data collection reminiscent of the historical “pink lists” used to facilitate persecution. Germany’s federal parliament ultimately rejected the draft in October. Nonetheless, since October, medical practices and pharmacies were subjected to the obligation to use the ePa, while individual insured persons were still allowed to reject its use.

In May, Germany’s federal parliament (the Bundestag) announced that it would fly the rainbow flag only once a year, on the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) justified the decision by arguing that Christopher Street Day (CSD) is primarily a day of assembly, protest, and celebration, and that the rainbow symbol should therefore be carried by citizens rather than displayed by the parliamentary institution itself. Chancellor Friedrich Merz likewise rejected the hoisting of the rainbow flag at federal institutions for CSD, dismissing the idea by stating that the Bundestag is “not a circus tent.”

In May, Sophie Koch, a member of the Saxon state parliament, was appointed as the new Federal Government Commissioner for the Acceptance of Sexual and Gender Diversity. The role is situated within the Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, with a mandate to strengthen acceptance of sexual and gender diversity across society and government policy.

This year’s National Remembrance Day ceremony marked the first time that explicit mention was made of people who were persecuted and killed during the Nazi era because of their gender or sexual identity.

In February, ahead of the federal elections, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) announced plans to revise the Self-Determination Act, which came into force in November 2024 and allows people to amend their names and gender markers by personal declaration without medical or judicial barriers. A CDU spokesperson argued that the annual, unconditional possibility of changing first names and gender entries was misguided and stressed that greater protection for children and adolescents must take precedence. The party also opposed hormone therapy and other medical treatments for minors and called for a unified treatment guideline across Germany, Austria and Switzerland; under current law, gender recognition is independent of medical procedures and those treatments are regulated separately in the healthcare system.

In May, the newly formed federal government outlined its position on the Self-Determination Act in the coalition agreement for the 21st legislative period. The agreement commits to evaluating the law on gender registration by July 31, 2026, emphasizing the government’s intent to uphold the rights of trans and intersex people. The review will focus on three main areas: the law’s impact on children and young people, the timeframes allowed for changing gender registration, and measures ensuring the protection of women. Additionally, as part of an upcoming reform of name law, the government plans to enhance the traceability of individuals in cases where there is a legitimate public interest in name changes. The evaluation was put out to tender in October and is expected to be carried out in two phases over a period of three years.

In July, the Federal Ministry of the Interior proposed draft regulations to alter the registration system by introducing data sheets recording an individual’s previous gender entry and any legal change, which would have made such information visible in the personal registration record. In September, the Ministry submitted a revised version of the ordinances to the Federal Council for approval, with a vote scheduled for 17 October. The planned measures remained largely unchanged, except for a stipulation that states should be excluded from conducting targeted searches for trans, intersex and non-binary persons in the system. The Federal Council, following a recommendation from its Committee for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to reject the draft, did not adopt the proposed changes.

Abortion is generally illegal in Germany, but under certain circumstances it is not punishable by law. Due to the collapse of the coalition, a bill to decriminalise abortion was not voted on in early 2025. The current federal government has effectively put long-overdue reform of abortion law on ice; a cross-party proposal to legalise abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy and modernise the law did not advance after the collapse of the previous coalition, and reproductive rights advocates criticised the inaction as leaving Germany’s outdated regulation under §218 unchanged.