The Hypocrisy of Alice Weidel 

And Why She Gets Away With it.

By Liv Sinnes

No same-sex marriage, no adoption for same-sex couples, and removal of queer representation in media and education perverting the youth – reads the anti-queer agenda of the AFD, Germany’s popular far-right and aggressively anti-immigration party. The leader and face of the party? Alice Weidel, a queer woman in a same-sex relationship raising adopted children, living in Switzerland as an immigrant herself, alongside her partner from Sri Lanka – a portrait of contradictions that is hard to ignore.

A party once deemed a laughingstock, underestimated because the far-right “could never return to Germany”, rose to the 2^nd most voted rank with the largest voter gains (1). Their primary objective is to expel immigrants, advocating ‘remigration’ to make Germany a country only for ethnic Germans. Their anti-queer agenda integrates harmoniously: the traditional nuclear family is crucial to raise and ensure the survival of the ethnic-nation – they have to reproduce! Queerness in this case is a direct threat to this natural order. If anything, Alice Weidel embodies what her colleagues would refer to as the ‘leftist utopia’, the ‘woke’ agenda that will be the downfall of Germany. 

But there’s more where that came from: Ernst Röhm, the leader of the Nazi party’s paramilitary (Sturmabteilung) and a close partner of Hitler, was an openly gay man within the party. He was so amongst fellow Nazis obsessing over the need to reproduce the ethnic German nation to conquer more Lebensraumand ensure their continuous supremacy – homosexuality had no place there. Amongst the many parallels that can be drawn between the AFD and the Nazis, Alice Weidel’s hypocrisy should not come as a surprise.

Today, despite her active role in a party that promotes anti-queerness, Alice Weidel is in a same-sex relationship, raising adopted children and living as an immigrant with another immigrant, all while directing an aggressive anti-immigration campaign. At first glance, it seems like quite the mental gymnastics not only to support a party that dehumanises your very being and rejects your way of life, but to run such party and be its public face – how does Alice Weidel pull it off? 

The answer lies in the nature of identity, the ability to overcome internal differences of ‘us’ when differences to ‘them’ are emphasised, and the ethno-nationalist commitment to hierarchy. 

Identity can be defined by one’s membership and belonging to a group which in turn is defined by its differences to others. Therefore, contradictions in Weidel’s identity are overcome by an ethno-nationalist discursive continuity, emphasising the bigger difference between the ‘invading foreigners’ and the ‘true Germans’ to whom Alice Weidel belongs with her white skin, blonde hair, bright eyes and ethnic origin. Crucially, the differences between ethnic groups are escalated to an existential level – they cannot coexist. According to Alice Weidel and her followers, foreigners seek to replace the ethnic Germans who as a people will cease to exist if they do not resist. Difference to the ‘other’ becomes the main currency and Alice Weidel pays with aggressive defence of her group in her anti-immigration politics and rhetoric dehumanising and villainising foreigners, arguing that “burqas, girls in headscarves, knife-wielding men on government benefits and other good-for-nothing people” (2) have overrun Germany. In this discourse, foreigners are ascribed characteristics and attributes, such as being violent, greedy and barbaric, that represent ‘them’ as a monolithic threat to ‘us’ who are hereby positively differentiated. 

Furthermore, Alice Weidel’s conflicting identity opens a path for further radicalisation: to overshadow her contradictions, she becomes more radical and extreme, more openly bigoted and hateful of the ‘them’, in the strive to be accepted by and to prove her commitment to ’us’. This makes it easier for colleagues and followers to accept her leadership. 

As for her queerness, if anything, it serves as a strategic advantage for AFD who can appeal to a broader audience beyond the typical right-wing voters. Alice Weidel is their perfect scapegoat, willing to take on self-degradation and bigotry to align with the party’s values whilst also appealing to a large audience of queer ethno-nationalists who will willingly abandon queer solidarity to climb up the hierarchy of an ethno-nationalist Germany. 

What Alice Weidel embodies is the opportunity to have a foot in the door, to have a ticket to ethno-nationalist La-La-Land – a world where her queerness is secondary to the privilege that comes with being at the top of the very hierarchy that seeks to dehumanise and marginalise the ‘invading foreigners’. A privilege she was granted by her ethnic German identity and further solidified through her bigoted politics. 

Bibliography:

• Zeier, Kristin, and Gianna-Carina Grün. “German Election Results Explained in Graphics.” Dw.com, Deutsche Welle, 23 Feb. 2025, www.dw.com/en/german-election-results-explained-in-graphics/a-71724186.
• Marsh, Sarah. “German Far-Right Leader Is a Chinese-Speaking Economist with Foreign Partner.” Reuters, 22 Feb. 2025, www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-far-right-leader-is-chinese-speaking-economist-with-foreign-partner-2025-02-22/.

Image depicted:

Schultheis, Emily. “Alice Weidel Took the German Far Right to New Heights. Here’s How She Did It.” POLITICO, 23 Feb. 2025, www.politico.eu/article/german-election-2025-results-alice-weidel-afd-moment/.