Klaus Wowereit
“I’m gay – and that’s a good thing”: with one sentence in 2001 he came out and became Berlin’s mayor for thirteen years.
Klaus Wowereit grew up in West Berlin in modest circumstances; his father left the family early, and his mother raised five children alone. He studied law, worked in the Berlin civil service and rose in the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
In June 2001, shortly before he was to be elected Governing Mayor of Berlin, he said at a party conference: “Ich bin schwul – und das ist auch gut so” (I’m gay – and that’s a good thing). He wanted to forestall a campaign by the tabloid press. The sentence became famous and gave courage to many people in Germany. He was elected and became one of the first openly gay heads of a major European capital.
As mayor from 2001 to 2014 he presented Berlin as an open, creative city; his description of the city as “poor but sexy” became a slogan. His time in office was overshadowed in later years by the many delays and rising costs of the new Berlin airport.
He resigned in December 2014. For many years he lived with his partner, a neurosurgeon, who died in 2020.