Germany’s parliament will be reviewing proposed amendments submitted by a pro-pedophile group tomorrow, sparking concerns from child safeguarding advocates. Krumme-13, a lobby group which advocates for lowering the age of consent and legalizing child pornography, is seeking to add language to the constitution which would establish “pedosexuality” as a protected sexual identity.
In April of this year, Gieseking shared the news that his petition to include the “sexual identity of pedophiles” as a protected characteristic under the constitution had been approved for discussion by the Petitions Committee.
“Pedophilia must also be included in sexual identity. Pedophiles in particular must be fundamentally protected from discrimination in the Basic Law. And this is completely independent of sexual criminal law. The vast majority of the estimated 250,000 pedophiles do not commit any of these types of crimes. Pedophilia is a separate sexual identity.”
Yet his claims contradict other actions and positions advocated for by Krumme-13. In another petition he sent to the government, Gieseking called for the decriminalization of the possession and distribution of child pornography.
Gieseking advocates for a distinction to be made between “sexual consent” and “sexual violence” when it comes to sexual acts between adults and children. As it is his belief that children can consent to sex with adults, he promotes the view that only the latter should be criminalized.
In 1996, Gieseking was sentenced to eighteen months, for which he served one year in prison, on charges related to operating a mail order child pornography service from a van. In 2003, Gieseking again appeared in court accused of possession of child sexual abuse materials obtained between July 1999 and January 2001. The pornography was found on Gieseking’s computer after a search of his residence in August 2001. His devices contained a total of 216 image files of naked children, and he was sentenced to eight months in prison.
In a 2014 interview with Taz Online, Gieseking called for lowering the age of consent to 12 years of age, and said that adult sexual interactions with toddlers would have to be “discussed separately.”
In accordance with his views on children’s ability to consent, Gieseking has publicly endorsed Germany’s new gender self-identification law, which takes effect November 1 and allows parents to change the sex marker on their children’s documents from birth. From the age of five years old, it allows for name and sex changes if there is “mutual consent” between the child and their parents.
“Why is gender identity also politically important for pedophiles/pedosophists?” Gieseking wrote in a post to K13online. “Gender and sexual identity does not only begin on the 14th birthday, when the so-called protection age limit ends. Children can and want to experience their childhood sexuality self-determined beforehand.”