I also have to imagine the visibility (although clearly, this isn't news to anyone there) has to help on some level.
I keep abreast of the German news partly to maintain language skills and partly because I spent a lot of time procrastinating on the internet (to make it clear that I'm not speaking as someone in Germany, or ever Europe), and it took ages before I found out Westerwelle's gay. There was a small row a while back about whether his partner should go on state visits to countries hostile to gay people and whether by not taking him, Westerwelle was tacitly accepting their policies, which then turned into a debate on whether a straight politician would be subject to such scrutiny of his personal life. On the other hand, I'm not sure it comes up that often that Volker Beck's gay and he'd be my answer if you asked me to name a visible gay German politician.
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I keep abreast of the German news partly to maintain language skills and partly because I spent a lot of time procrastinating on the internet (to make it clear that I'm not speaking as someone in Germany, or ever Europe), and it took ages before I found out Westerwelle's gay. There was a small row a while back about whether his partner should go on state visits to countries hostile to gay people and whether by not taking him, Westerwelle was tacitly accepting their policies, which then turned into a debate on whether a straight politician would be subject to such scrutiny of his personal life. On the other hand, I'm not sure it comes up that often that Volker Beck's gay and he'd be my answer if you asked me to name a visible gay German politician.