Alt-Right Germans Outraged They Couldn’t Get Booth at Berlin Pride

Germany's anti-establishment far-right party is complaining that Berlin Pride organizers refused to let its youth group have a booth, reports Berliner Zeitung.

The Alternative for Germany party is known for outrageous nationalist rhetoric and drafting unpassable legislation that plays into its base's sense of victimhood. The youth wing, Junge Alternative, whose leader recently said that Adolf Hitler was mere "bird shit" in over a millennium of otherwise successful German history, applied to have a presence at Berlin's Pride festivities but was rejected.

David Eckert, the 26-year-old head of the Junge Alternative Berlin chapter, wrote a Facebook post expressing his outrage that his group was not welcome at Berlin's Christopher Street Day celebration July 28.

Eckert posted an "email exchange" between him and the event organizers who denied the request. In it, Pride leaders told him the festivities needed a "climate of acceptance" that was welcoming to refugees. They also rejected the group because its application came in past the deadline.

"Not every gay person wears vinyl and leather, struts around with a handbag and paints their nails," Eckert said.

He then quoted a poll stating 12 percent of German LGBT voters supported the alt-right party and asked if he could apply for next year's Pride.

The Alternative party, though committed to its anti-immigrant and anti-marriage equality platform, has sought to attract more LGBT voters. Its current leader, Alice Weidel, is a lesbian. However, during her candidacy, the party threatened to sue the German Parliament for legalizing same-sex marriage last year.

"Anyone who preaches tolerance has to live with it themselves," Eckert concluded.