German Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig has called for a ban on discrimination based on sexual identity to be explicitly enshrined in the Basic Law.
This concerns Article 3, paragraph 3 of the Basic Law. It currently prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, descent, language, homeland and origin, faith, religious or political beliefs, and disability, among other things. Sexual identity is not specifically included in this list.
Hubig proposes adding it to the Constitution. In an interview with the Rheinische Post, the minister said she supported amending Article 3 to include an explicit ban on discrimination based on sexual identity.
According to her, this would be a logical extension of the existing constitutional guarantees.
The debate gained fresh momentum following the attack on Berlin's CSD on July 25, 2026. One person was killed and 31 others were injured in the attack in Berlin's Tiergarten. Hubig described the proposed amendment to the Basic Law as one possible response by the state to what had happened.
After the attack, Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his support for the queer community and emphasized the need to protect it. Hubig believes that amending the Constitution could give these words concrete legal substance. At the same time, she acknowledges that there are still objections to such an amendment within the CDU/CSU, although she says there are also “encouraging signals.”
The idea of adding “sexual identity” to Article 3 is not new.
In October 2025, the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group introduced a corresponding bill in the Bundestag. It would add the words “sexual identity” directly to the list of characteristics on the basis of which a person may not be treated less or more favorably. After its first reading, the bill was referred to parliamentary committees.
A virtually identical bill was also slated for submission to the Bundestag and Bundesrat on September 26, 2025. The initiative originally came from Berlin.
The bill's authors argue that the amendment is necessary because lesbians, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and other queer people continue to face discrimination, hostility, and violence. In their view, explicitly enshrining this protection in the Constitution would provide a more durable legal guarantee than provisions contained only in ordinary legislation.
But the minister's statement does not yet mean that Germany's Constitution will be amended.
An amendment to the Basic Law requires a qualified majority. Under Article 79 of the Constitution, it must be approved by two-thirds of the members of the Bundestag and two-thirds of the votes in the Bundesrat.
The initiative's future will therefore depend on whether the necessary parliamentary majority can be secured. For now, Hubig is speaking only of upcoming negotiations within the government.
If the amendment is adopted, sexual identity will for the first time be explicitly listed in Article 3 of Germany's Basic Law among the characteristics protected from discrimination.
0 comments
Enter your email — we’ll send you a one-time code. No passwords or accounts.
Code sent to
If the email doesn't appear in your inbox within a few minutes, check your spam, junk, or promotions folder, as some email services may mistakenly place automated messages there