March 6, 2012
Germany Rebukes Lukashenko on Remarks About Gays
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
The German government says Alexander Lukashenko's comment that "it's better to be a dictator than gay" - a statement directed at Germany's gay foreign minister - reveals more about the authoritarian Belarusian leader than anything else.
The remark came after German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle last week complained of human rights abuses in Belarus, calling Lukashenko's government "the last dictatorship in Europe."
On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said it was revealing that Lukashenko didn't deny what Westerwelle said when he attacked the foreign minister. Seibert says: "It is interesting that even Mr. Lukashenko views himself now as a dictator."
Westerwelle is vowing to keep pressing Belarus for democratic reforms.
