ABOUT THIS EPISODE
When an AfD candidate was criticized for referencing a concentration camp badge on a campaign billboard, the party’s defense was immediate: "How dare you accuse us of being homophobic? Our leader, Alice Weidel, is a lesbian." It’s a perfect, toxic blend of strategic provocation and plausible deniability. But it points to a much deeper, more disturbing mutation within European politics.
In this episode, founding HEIST editor Peter Matthews talks with Ben Miller, historian, writer, and co-host of the podcast Bad Gays to talk about right-wing queer politics.
They trace the lineage from the Netherlands' Pim Fortuyn to the AfD's current transphobia, exposing how by posing as moderate when it comes to queer topics, and blaming immigrants for homophobia, far-right parties win support - even from liberals.
Check out Miller’s feature for HEIST, “With Its Queer Rhetoric, the AfD Attempts to Swing Both Ways.”
This episode is part of the three-episode drop that properly kicks off the HEIST podcast. Check out our podcast feed for the other two conversations: with Hebh Jamal about life as a Palestinian in Berlin and Yossi Bartal about a faked murder on the U-Bahn.
Links & Resources:
- Support GLADT, a self-organization by and for Black, Indigenous and of Color lesbian, gay, bi+, trans, inter* and queer people in Berlin
- Read Ben Miller’s feature for HEIST
- Follow him on Instagram @benwritesthings and on Bluesky at benwritesthings.
- Keep up with HEIST on Instagram: @heistberlin_
- Support worker-owned Berlin journalism and subscribe to HEIST
Music and sound by Patrick Nininger.
