The Hannover City Council’s decision to recommend a series of books on «queer» themes for use in municipal daycare centers has sparked an intense debate in Germany about the limits of affective-sexual education at early ages.
According to the media outlet La Gaceta de la Iberosfera, the list was prepared by the so-called «queer employees’ network» of the council, under the coordination of the municipal commissioner for sexual and gender diversity. The stated objective of the City Council is to promote inclusion and diversity in the city’s 41 public daycare centers, as well as in kindergartens and after-school centers.
Content Aimed at Children from Three Years Old
Among the recommended titles is Körper sind toll («Bodies are great»), a book aimed at young children that includes illustrations of people who have undergone sex reassignment surgeries, showing surgical scars.
Another of the highlighted texts is Untenrum: Und wie sagst du? («Down There: And What Do You Call It?»), aimed at children from three years old. The book includes explanations on body self-exploration using mirrors or flashlights and describes body games between children, specifying that adults should not participate in them.
For primary school students, the list also includes Me and My Dysphoria Monster, a story in which gender dysphoria is represented as a «monster» that grows when the protagonist is called by their biological name.
Debate on Educational Limits
The initiative has generated controversy in various social and political sectors, which question whether this type of content is appropriate for such early ages and whether it is up to local administrations to promote materials with an explicit ideological charge in the area of gender identity.
Although the City Council maintains that the purpose is to foster respect and inclusion, critics of the measure warn of a possible advancement of complex debates to the realm of early childhood, where affective and moral formation primarily corresponds to families.
A Broader Phenomenon in Germany
The debate is not limited to Hannover. In Berlin’s Reinickendorf district, a youth art school funded by public funds offers «drag» workshops aimed at teenagers between 13 and 17 years old. These activities include training in makeup, dance, and creation of stage characters.
The succession of initiatives in different parts of the country has intensified the public discussion on the role of the State in education on gender identity and on the criteria that should govern the selection of content in centers supported by public funds.