It was August 27, 2022: thousands queer People are on the streets in Münster. They celebrate with exuberance Christopher Street Day. The party is peaceful at first. Then suddenly there is an argument. Witnesses see a man viciously insulting and threatening lesbian women.
Malte C. dies after a brutal attack
The transman Malte is also paying attention, goes there, tries to mediate, but without success. The troublemaker attacks Malte and hits him in the face with his fist. Malte falls to the ground and hits the back of his head on the pavement. Paramedics rush in and take Malte to the hospital, where he dies a few days later as a result of a severe traumatic brain injury. The alleged perpetrator is on the run.
sadness, anger and horror
Malte’s death caused grief and horror nationwide. Thousands of people demonstrated against hate and homophobia in Münster. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser condemned the act as a hate crime. The Bishop of Münster, Felix Genn, spoke of a barbaric act. Münster’s Lord Mayor Markus Lewe ordered mourning flags to be displayed on all municipal buildings.
“We mourn together, we are angry, we are infinitely appalled by what happened.”
Markus Lewe, Lord Mayor of Munster
The suspect was known to the police
Five days after the act of violence, at the beginning of September 2022, the alleged perpetrator, a 20-year-old, was recognized and arrested at the main station in Münster. Since then he has been in custody and has been silent. Nevertheless, more and more details are becoming known that the young man has been noticed several times in the past for violent and drug offenses, and also that he may be homosexual, but does not want to admit it. Then the attack could possibly also be seen as an unconscious defense against one’s own homosexual desires, according to the expert commissioned by the public prosecutor’s office. This assessment causes queer community for horror. It is important to see the act for what it is at its core, queerhostile and homophobic, a hate crime.