Linke on equality and diversity

The Left bases its disability policy on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. People with disabilities are to take a greater part in politics, personal assistance is to be secured, and the special transport service is to be usable without a co-payment.

People with disabilities should decide about their own lives. They should have more say in politics. Meetings should be accessible to everyone. Rides with the special transport service should no longer cost anything.

Meetings of the district assemblies and of the committees of the Abgeordnetenhaus (Berlin's state parliament) are to be broadcast in accessible form. The Berlin Disability Parliament is to get long-term funding; assistance for volunteer roles is to be paid for and compensation for committee work put on a legal footing. Personal assistance under the employer model is to be kept and expanded, with the same pay as at assistance services. The action plan on the UN convention is to be updated and state law checked against it. The special transport service is to grow according to need, the graduated co-payments for it and for the taxi account are to be dropped, and the maximum taxi reimbursement is to rise.

The Left wants to launch a citywide initiative across all departments for an inclusive labor market. Berlin's administration is to train and employ considerably more people with disabilities, and state-owned companies are to meet the statutory employment quota in full.

The Left wants more jobs for people with disabilities. Berlin's public offices should hire and train more of them. Office buildings should be free of barriers. The state's companies should meet the required quota.

The program says progress has been slow because inclusion is not considered across all policy areas. In the administration, access barriers are to come down, more accessible workplaces are to be created and all office buildings are to be converted to be barrier-free. State-owned companies are to meet the statutory quota completely. Public employers should no longer pay the Ausgleichsabgabe (compensatory levy) in place of hiring people with disabilities. Money from the levy is to go to accessible workplaces, training and assistance.

The Left wants to better protect people with disabilities living in shared residential settings from violence. To that end, the legal rules are to be tightened and residents involved in shaping the protective measures.

Some people with disabilities live together in group homes. The Left wants to protect them better from violence. The law should set clear rules for this. The residents should have a say.

The laws are to be changed so that violence prevention is a binding requirement and protection plans are actually put into practice. Regular checks by outside bodies would be added. Women's representatives are to be established in these residential settings. People with disabilities are to take an active part in designing the protective measures.

The Left wants to remove abortion from the criminal code and plans to launch an initiative in the Bundesrat to do so. The platform argues that deciding over one's own body is a fundamental right.

The Left wants to end Section 218. This law makes abortion a crime. The required counseling should also end. Health insurers should pay the costs.

Berlin would introduce a bill in the Bundesrat to strike Section 218 of the criminal code. Mandatory counseling and the three-day waiting period before an abortion would be dropped. All hospitals in the state hospital plan that have a gynecology department would be able to perform abortions, and health insurers would cover the cost. The platform also calls for easier, self-determined access to sterilization.

The Left wants to improve medical care for trans people in Berlin and strengthen specialized services. The platform points to long waiting times, bureaucratic procedures and a lack of specialized care.

The Left wants better health care for trans people. There should be more therapy places. Hormones should be easier to get. Health insurers should cover costs more easily.

The plan calls for more therapy slots with qualified psychotherapists and an easier path to hormone therapy. Health insurers would pay for gender-affirming procedures without major hurdles. Medical staff would learn more about trans health during their training. The party aims to reduce discrimination and raise the quality of care this way.

The Left opposes discrimination based on age and wants to achieve an amendment to the Grundgesetz (Germany's constitution) at the federal level. It explicitly includes discrimination against young people.

No one should be treated worse because of their age. This applies to old and young people. The Left wants to write this into the Grundgesetz. The Grundgesetz is Germany's constitution.

The party wants to push at the federal level for a corresponding addition to the constitution. In its view, the protection should cover all age groups, including younger people. In Berlin, it wants to fund projects that bring generations together, for example in designing public spaces.

The Left wants to create an independent office where students and parents can turn in cases of discrimination and bullying. It would have the right to inspect files and to intervene. The party aims to counter racism, antisemitism, sexism, hostility toward queer people and other forms of disadvantage in schools.

The Left wants a new office for complaints. Children and parents can contact it. For example, when there is bullying or unfair treatment. The office should be independent of the school. It may look at files and step in.

The office would be attached to the state anti-discrimination office and would handle cases under Berlin's state anti-discrimination law as well as conflicts arising from the school law, such as inclusion. School staff could turn to it if their own complaints office fails to act. The education administration's commissioner for anti-discrimination and bullying would gain influence and be backed by district-level offices. Individual schools would set up complaint structures. Outside education and prevention programs would get permanent funding.

The Left wants to make youth work a distinct focus of a citywide anti-discrimination strategy and support anti-racist, feminist and queer projects in every district. Youth facilities would be equipped so that young people with disabilities can take part as a matter of course. To counter far-right recruiting among young people, street social work and exit programs would be expanded.

The Left wants youth work to be a safe place for everyone. Every district should have projects against racism. There should also be projects for women and queer people. Young people with disabilities should be able to join in everywhere. The party wants to do more against far-right groups that recruit young people.

The platform mentions empowerment, tailored civic education, violence prevention including online, and diversity management in associations and facilities. Inclusive child and youth welfare should not serve as a way to save money; open facilities would be adapted in terms of buildings, staff and concepts, and responsibilities between youth welfare, social assistance and schools would be made clearer. Political information would be available in plain language. Against far-right influence, the party plans clear instructions and reporting chains, plus measures against contributing factors such as experiences of violence or a lack of integration into work and society. Programs against child poverty would be better linked, and the party wants to defend the freedom of expression of youth work providers.

The Left wants a cross-departmental Senate strategy against unequal pay between women and men. Occupations with a high share of women are to be upgraded financially and structurally, and more women are to reach skilled and leadership positions and enter male-dominated sectors.

The Left wants equal pay for women and men. Jobs done mostly by women should pay better. These include nursing, cleaning and childcare. More women should become bosses. Women should also get into technical jobs more easily.

The platform names nursing, cleaning, social and childcare work, midwifery, restaurants and retail as sectors to be upgraded, with staffing levels based on need and appropriate pay. Training and mentoring programs are to grow, and public funding is to oblige companies to pursue equality-oriented staff development. At the state level, the party relies on wider collective bargaining coverage, better balance between paid work and care work, and a lifelong entitlement to further training. The platform attributes low pay and overload in these sectors to years of austerity.

The Left wants to secure, expand and better fund women's shelters, girls' clubs, women's centers and counseling services for the long term. Staff there should be paid according to collective agreements and their qualifications.

The Left wants to protect women's shelters and advice centers for women. There should be more of them. The city should give more money for this. Staff there should get pay set by union agreements.

The program counts women's shelters, girls' meeting places and clubs, women's centers, counseling services and self-organized initiatives among these facilities. The party sees them as safe spaces that promote self-determination and help women in difficult situations. It justifies pay under collective agreements by saying this is the only way to ensure continuous, skilled work. As a broader goal, the party names a "Caring City" that reduces unpaid care work, which is mostly done by women.

The Left wants to expand protection against gender-based violence by implementing the Gewalthilfegesetz (federal violence assistance act) and the Istanbul Convention across all Senate departments. A state coordination office would steer the work, and a Bundesrat initiative would extend the right to protection to additional groups.

The Left wants to protect women and others better from violence. There is a treaty for this called the Istanbul Convention. Many countries signed it to stop violence against women. Berlin should follow this treaty everywhere. A new office should plan this for all of Berlin.

Federal money under the Gewalthilfegesetz should not replace the state's own share of funding for anti-violence work. A Bundesrat initiative would extend the law to trans, intersex and non-binary people as well as to refugees and migrants affected by such violence. The coordination office is meant to improve cooperation between the state and the districts and spread projects more evenly, especially in outer districts. Work with perpetrators of domestic violence would get permanent funding, courses for them would be mandatory, and schools would teach about sexism and gender stereotypes. For people with disabilities, the party plans women's representatives in shared housing and Senate-set minimum standards for violence protection plans, checked regularly by the supervisory authority.

The Left wants to revise Berlin's rules on the protection of people in prostitution together with sex workers. Sex work should be neither criminalized nor stigmatized, and the party rejects restricted zones where it is banned.

The Left wants to change the rules for sex work in Berlin. Sex workers should have a say in this. No one should punish them or treat them badly. The Left does not want restricted zones. These are areas where sex work is banned.

The program names as its basis a draft law written by sex workers' own advocacy group, meant to improve working conditions, safety, health and rights. The party supports safe and hygienic workplaces, such as so-called Verrichtungsboxen (drive-in booths). Migrant sex workers should get easy-to-reach, multilingual counseling as well as protection and prospects, including when their residence status is insecure. Counseling, health care and protection should not depend on residence status. The party also calls for a dedicated drug consumption room for women and for non-binary, intersex and trans people working in sex work.

The Left wants to review and further develop Berlin's state initiative for gender and sexual diversity (IGSV) and bring it back into parliament. Queer policy should focus more on social issues because, according to the program, queer people are especially often poor. Lesbian visibility is to be specifically promoted.

The Left wants to improve policy for queer people in Berlin. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. Many queer people have little money. So there should be special help for them. Lesbians should become more visible in the city.

The IGSV would be evaluated together with the communities, and a queer advisory council would add to their representation. Planned are services for queer refugees, queer people with disabilities, and trans and non-binary people in the job market. Queer community organizations would get long-term rather than project-by-project funding, with collectively agreed pay raises fully covered. To stop lesbian bars and meeting places from disappearing, the party wants to fund cultural venues and projects. Lesbian pioneers would be honored with street names and monuments.

The Left wants to better protect queer people from housing discrimination and homelessness and to support queer housing projects. Queer bars, clubs and centers would be shielded from displacement as "cultural protection zones" under federal law.

Many queer people have a hard time finding a home. The Left wants to help them. Housing projects for queer people should get money and land. Queer bars and clubs should get special protection. Then they will not have to close so easily.

The state-owned housing companies would have to set up more effective anti-discrimination offices. Projects for queer housing in old age and multigenerational house projects would be funded and given priority for state-owned land. Queer refugees would be housed in decentralized accommodation, and dedicated shelters would be kept and expanded. Venues hit by anti-queer attacks would get quick money to repair damage. The party wants to help queer venues remove physical barriers.

The Left wants to add sexual identity to the equality article of the Basic Law and change parentage law so that rainbow families are treated equally. The Selbstbestimmungsgesetz (Self-Determination Act) is to be developed further and defended against repeal.

The Left wants equal rights for queer people. The constitution should protect them by name. Families with two mothers or two fathers should have the same rights. The Self-Determination Act should stay and get better. This law makes it easier to change your legal gender.

Article 3 of the Basic Law bans disadvantage based on certain characteristics; sexual identity would be added there. Parentage law determines who is legally a child's parent. In the Bundesrat, the party wants to push for what it sees as a progressive further development of the Self-Determination Act. It intends to resist attempts from the right to roll the law back.

The Left wants to counter hate violence against queer people mainly through independent reporting offices, victim counseling and mandatory training in public agencies, since in its view more police does not mean more safety for everyone. Schools would get designated staff for diversity and binding guidelines, and Pride (CSD) events would be protected.

Queer people face more and more violence. The Left wants more reporting offices and advice for victims. They should get help even without going to the police. Every school should have a trained person for diversity. Queer marches like Pride should be safe.

Measures against hate violence would be anchored in the state initiative IGSV and address root causes. Every school would have qualified staff responsible for gender and sexual diversity, and outside queer education work would be strengthened. Planned are fixed guidelines for dealing with trans and non-binary students and explicit inclusion of gender diversity in the curriculum frameworks. The party pledges that queer people can demonstrate safely and that CSD events get political and structural support. It rejects the Bundeswehr recruiting at queer venues or helping fund them.

The Left wants to close the gender pay gap in the cultural sector and develop a long-term plan to do so. Cultural workers with care responsibilities get particular attention. Funding for FLINTA* people in culture is to be expanded.

Women in culture earn much less than men. The Left wants to change that. It wants to make a plan for this. Artists who care for children or relatives should get help. Women and queer people should get more funding.

Citing the Künstlersozialkasse (artists' social insurance fund), the platform puts the gap at 25 to 33 percent depending on the field. The Left supports a fund for grants that ease the return to work after a career break for care work. To make it easier for FLINTA* people (women, lesbians, inter, non-binary, trans, and agender people) to enter the cultural sector, the party is considering quotas and other measures.

The Left wants to step up action against racism and antisemitism, especially where they are embedded in structures and institutions. This work would be funded permanently, and the public sector would be trained and organized accordingly.

The Left wants to do more against racism and hatred of Jews. All parts of the Senate should take part. There should be lasting money and staff for this. City employees should get training.

The party sees the issue as a task for all Senate departments, which would get their own strategies, money, and staff for it. Funding would no longer depend on individual grant periods. For the public sector, strategies are planned for hiring procedures, staff development, and diversity skills. For prominent positions, especially the Senate's designated contact persons, expertise on racism, antisemitism, sexism, hostility toward queer people, and hostility toward people with disabilities would be expected.

The Left wants better research on discrimination in Berlin and permanent funding for the existing specialist offices. The data is meant to inform counter-strategies. Racism, antisemitism and Berlin's colonial legacy are also to become a fixed part of teacher training.

The Left wants to know more about discrimination in Berlin. There should be studies on it. Advice centers against discrimination should get lasting funding. Teachers should learn more about racism and antisemitism.

The program calls for studies of unreported incidents and secure funding for monitoring bodies. Besides migration background, experiences of racism and discrimination are to be surveyed using a standardized, transparent system. Specialist offices against discrimination, for example in housing, employment and health care, are to be strengthened. Teaching materials and the training of educational staff are to cover racism, antisemitism and colonial history systematically. Civil society is to be involved in legislation and statewide strategies, and a plan for Muslim burial grounds is to be drawn up.

The Left wants to review Berlin's state anti-discrimination act (Landesantidiskriminierungsgesetz), add new protected grounds and strengthen the ombuds office. At the federal level it seeks a comprehensive reform of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) via the Bundesrat. It opposes racial profiling.

Berlin has a law against discrimination by public offices. The Left wants to widen this law. It should list more reasons for unfair treatment. The complaints office should get more staff and more rights. Police should not stop people because of how they look.

The state law is to cover unequal treatment based on residence status, citizenship, care responsibilities or body weight as well. The ombuds office is to become more independent, gain staff and powers, and be allowed to address the press and act on its own initiative. A broad information campaign is meant to make the law better known. In the party's view, racial profiling contradicts the state law. For the federal act, it wants to close gaps that include state action, following the demands of the alliance "AGG-Reform – Jetzt!".

The Left wants more prevention and education against antisemitism in all areas of society and in state institutions. Recognized, qualified organizations are to be funded permanently rather than through short project terms. The program cites the rise in antisemitic crimes as the reason.

There are more crimes against Jewish people. The Left wants more education to stop this. Advice centers and projects should get lasting funding. Research on antisemitism should get money too.

Projects that document incidents, advise victims and do prevention work are to be strengthened, as are dialogue and empowerment formats. Organizations that combine work against antisemitism and against racism are also to get more support. Berlin's contact person on antisemitism is to receive enough money and staff. Research on structural and institutional antisemitism in Berlin is to be funded. At the same time, the party rejects using accusations of antisemitism politically or in the media to discredit people or groups.

The Left wants to develop a state program that promotes the participation of Roma and combats antigypsyism. The program points to discrimination and attacks, especially in public offices and in housing and employment.

Sinti and Roma are often treated unfairly in Berlin. The Left wants a state program against this. The contact person for this issue should be strengthened. One instruction for job centers should be dropped, because the party says it treats Roma unfairly.

The contact person against antigypsyism is to be strengthened. The advisory council on Roma and Sinti affairs is to get enough powers to talk with the administration as an equal. The party wants to abolish a Federal Employment Agency guidance document on organized benefit abuse by EU citizens, which Berlin job centers also apply. According to the program, it mainly disadvantages Roma from Romania and Bulgaria.

The Left wants targeted measures against anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-Slavic, anti-Palestinian and anti-Kurdish racism. These include a Senate strategy against anti-Muslim racism, a review of the police and its databases, and more colonial and migration history in teaching.

The Left wants to fight different kinds of racism. The Berlin government should make a plan against racism toward Muslims. The police and its data files should be checked. Schools should teach more about colonial history.

The contact person on anti-Muslim racism is to be given the rank of a contact person of the state and be resourced accordingly. Projects against anti-Palestinian racism are to be funded, and restrictions on freedom of expression, academic freedom and assembly in this context are to be researched. All institutions, especially the police and its databases, are to be checked for discriminatory practices, which are to be ended. The body on anti-Black racism is to get powers and access to Senate documents, and Intersectional Black European Studies are to return to Berlin universities. Colonial city history and Asian migration histories are to be mandatory in curricula, and anti-Slavic racism is to be addressed in research, education and administration.

The Left wants all religious and worldview communities in Berlin to be treated equally and considers preferential treatment of the Christian churches unjustifiable. Plans include religiously neutral pastoral care for non-religious people and more Muslim pastoral care. The party opposes religious fundamentalism.

Berlin has many religions and many people without a religion. The Left wants to treat them all the same. Christian churches should not get special benefits. People without a religion should also get pastoral care. Pastoral care means someone listens and helps in hard times.

Religious holidays of Jewish, Muslim, Alevi and Christian communities are to be recognized in public institutions, and their burial rites made possible in Berlin. The Senate is to introduce neutral counselors in hospitals, prisons, the police and the fire department; Muslim pastoral care is to be offered beyond prisons. At the federal level, the party wants all pastoral counselors to get the right to refuse testimony under the Code of Criminal Procedure. It calls for a professorship to train Alevi religion teachers and clergy. Against threats from Islamist actors, for instance toward Iranian activists, the program demands firm action and more prevention.

The Left wants to write gender equality into sports law and introduce a binding quota that reserves funding and training time for girls and FLINTA* teams. Violence-protection plans would become a condition for public money, and an independent complaints office would track discrimination in sports.

The Left wants more equality in sports. Girls and FLINTA* teams should get a fixed share of the money. FLINTA* means women, lesbians, and inter, non-binary, trans and agender people. Clubs need a plan to protect people from violence. A new office should take complaints about discrimination.

According to the platform, FLINTA* people are disadvantaged in organized sports in membership, visibility, resources and leadership posts. The sports funding law and the rules on use of sports facilities would be amended; as a first step, at least 40 percent of funding and public training time would go to girls and FLINTA* teams. Public money would be tied to demonstrable equality efforts, and from 2026 a child-protection seal or an equivalent plan would be mandatory for funded organizations. A central monitoring and complaints office would handle racism, antisemitism, sexism, anti-queer hostility and ableism and check how funds are allocated. The plan also includes all-gender changing rooms and single cubicles in new and renovated facilities, support for queer clubs, certified training courses, and action against far-right influence in clubs and fan sections.

The Left wants to secure access to sports for people with disabilities through barrier-free facilities, assistance and a say in decisions. The Jahn-Sportpark would be developed as an inclusive grassroots sports complex, with a cheaper stadium than currently planned.

People with disabilities should be able to do sports everywhere. Each district should get at least one sports facility without barriers. There should be money for assistance and sign language. The Jahn-Sportpark should become a place for everyone.

The platform builds on the Special Olympics and wants to make their impact last. It calls for a phased plan for accessibility, inclusive standards for all new buildings, and standardized inclusive gyms that go first to clubs with inclusive programs. Funding for sports events would be tied to verifiable inclusion standards. An assistance fund with a staff pool, permanent sign-language interpreter positions and binding participation by groups such as the Berlin Disability Parliament would be added. For the Jahn-Sportpark, the Left wants the stadium plans revised and backs the citizens' initiative calling for a less costly stadium.