BERLIN -- Germany's first openly gay candidate for a top political post is tipped to become Berlin's interim mayor later this week, as wrangles continued Monday over a date for new elections.
"I am gay, and that is good the way it is," declared Klaus Wowereit in a speech to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) before being unanimously nominated Sunday as the party's candidate for Berlin's next mayoral election.
Wowereit, who is 47 and the leader of the SPD group in Berlin's city council, told Bild newspaper he had never made a secret of being gay.
Asked if his new status as gay politician would harm his chances for election, Wowereit said: "I don't think so. We live in a tolerant city, and homosexuality is normal for many Berliners."
Wowereit stressed that while he supported things such as gay marriage, he did now view himself as a gay activist.
"I have never been a gay politics man but have rather worked as a gay [person] in politics," Wowereit said.
Wowereit's coming out is a first in Germany. Although a number of senior German politicians are widely believed to be gay and lesbian, none have ever come out publicly.
With a population of 3.5 million, Berlin is Germany's biggest city. It has a large and open gay community.
The city's left-right coalition of the SPD with the Christian Democrats (CDU) under CDU Mayor Eberhard Diepgen collapsed last week amid a budget crisis and CDU admissions of illegal donations.
SPD leaders hope to topple Diepgen in a no-confidence Saturday by linking up with the Greens and the former East German communists which has revamped themselves as the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).
SPD declarations of a possible coalition with the PDS have brought howls of outrage from conservatives.
Debate continued on setting a date for elections to decide a permanent successor to Mayor Diepgen.
Both the CDU and the SPD said they wanted the new vote to be held as swiftly as possible and September 23 is considered the likely day.
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