| SO | Sexual orientation |
|---|---|
| GI/E | Gender identity/expression |
| SC | Variations of sex characteristics |
| AM | Anti-LGBTQI measures |
| HE | Hostile environment |
| GR1 | Legal gender recognition without self-determination |
| GR2 | Legal gender recognition with self-determination (over 16) |
| GR3 | Legal gender recognition with self-determination (under 16) |
| FPN | LGBTI focal points network |
| CA | Ministerial call to action |
N
N
N
0
Red
NA
Y
Y
10
Best practices
Bundesverband Queere Bildung (Federal Association for LGBTQI Education (QB)) is the federal associ- ation of clubs, projects, and initiatives that offer educational, awareness-raising, and anti-discrimination work on the topic of sexual and gender diversity. The association currently has 48 formal members and connects and works with 70+ initiatives across Germany. QB’s mission statement and binding quality standards for anti-discrimination work were jointly formulated by its members. These include the im- portance of all trainers being part of the LGBTQI community, the provision of counseling and support resources for participants, processes of preparation and evaluation, and others. QB is currently develop- ing a national training of trainers curriculum and a national trainer pool. QB also has an adult education task force and provides teacher training.
Implementing the top-down approach of the Berlin action plan, QUEERFORMAT has trained various stakeholders since 2010. These include school teachers and social workers. Importantly, the parliament requested that state youth welfare staff (Kinder- und Jugendhilfe (KJH)) are also trained. The legally based KJH system provides organized support for children and youth. This innovative system includes a great number and wide range of pedagogical professionals who work in youth social work, school social work, socio-educational support, housing, foster care, assisted living, and early childhood education.
Commissioned by the Senate, QUEERFORMAT published the first resource in German on sexual and gender diversity (2018), targeted at professionals in early childhood education. Despite criticism by right-wing populists, the guidelines were welcomed by professionals in Germany and beyond.
The Berlin State Office for Equal Treatment and against Discrimination (Anti-discrimination Agency) provides annual funding to micro-projects that increase the visibility of LGBTQI history. Most recently, the non-profit association behind QUEERFORMAT produced a podcast on ‘LGBTQI Education through the Ages’ highlighting four decades of its educational work in Berlin between 1980 and 2020.
The Berlin Senate Department for Education commissions NGOs to organize the annual Queer History Month addressing LGBTQI topics in schools and youth facilities.
In 2020, the Federal Conference of Gender Equality Officers in Higher Education (BuKoF) issued guide- lines for universities on how to respect gender diversity, including in terms of recognising students’ names and gender identity, adjusting online databases, putting in place gender-neutral bathrooms, and others. The guidelines list good practices across German universities.
