Flag row: German parliament marks International Day against Homophobia

A rainbow flag was flying over the German parliament building in Berlin on Sunday to mark the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia.

On May 17, Germany also marks the anniversary of a 2002 parliamentary decision to annul the convictions of gay men persecuted for homosexuality under the Nazi regime.

Bundestag President Julia Klöckner sparked a dispute last year when she refused to hoist the rainbow flag on what is known in Germany as Christopher Street Day to commemorate the Stonewall riots in Manhattan on June 28, 1969. 

Unlike her predecessor, Klöckner decided that the rainbow flag would be flown from Berlin's landmark Reichstag building just once a year, to mark the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia.

She justified her decision by citing parliamentary neutrality and stressing that the German flag, which is normally flown from the parliament building, stood for freedom, human dignity and equality before the law - including the right to sexual self-determination.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz backed her decision at the time with the words: "The Bundestag is not a circus tent after all." His comment drew widespread criticism.