Revision as of 16:43, 6 April 2009 edit GrouchoBot (talk \| contribs) 146,812 edits m robot Adding: eo:Klaus Wowereit ← Previous edit		Revision as of 12:04, 24 April 2009 edit undo 217.111.33.2 (talk) →Personal life Next edit →
Line 39: == Personal life == Wowereit is one of the most famous German politicians who is openly [[homosexuality\|gay]]. In [[coming out]], prior to the 2001 mayoral elections, he coined the now famous German phrase "{{lang\|de\|Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so.}}" ("I am gay, and that’s OKa good thing."). In his autobiography (see below) Wowereit states that his decision to come out in public was made because after his nomination as candidate to become the mayor of Berlin, he felt that the German [[tabloid]]s were already "on the track". With his coming out, Wowereit wanted to beat the tabloids to it and prevent them from writing wild, sensational and made-up stories about his private life. Wowereit said those now famous words during a convention of the Berlin [[Social Democratic Party of Germany\|SPD]]. After he had ended, there was half a second of surprised silence, then spontaneous cheering and loud applause to support him. His election as mayor made Berlin one of three major European cities with an openly gay mayor, along with [[Paris]], whose mayor is [[Bertrand Delanoë]], and [[Hamburg]], whose mayor is [[Ole von Beust]], who both also took office in 2001. Previously, the largest city with a gay mayor had been [[Winnipeg]], [[Canada]], with mayor [[Glen Murray (politician)\|Glen Murray]]. Berlin and Hamburg are not only the two largest cities in Germany, but both are also German states, making both Wowereit and von Beust also state premiers.

Klaus Wowereit: Difference between revisions