taz: Mr. Ahrens, the title “Gay Heath King” sounds like a queer parody of the various Heath Queens in the region. But you’re serious.
Dirk Ahrens: Absolutely – and this has been the case for 26 years! The volunteer work was launched in 2000 by Aidshilfe. At that time, people were thinking about how to raise awareness about HIV and safe sex. And then they realized that there was all this majesty all around. So they created a gay pagan king.
taz: Back then they were some pretty wild majesties.
Dirk Ahrens: At that time we were only invited to queer events. That’s why the royal uniforms were more in the fetish direction. There were kings who drove through the country half-naked, bare-chested and only wearing a sash. They were kings in patent leather and leather, and one of them also had gold swimming trunks.
taz: But how did the king become serious?
Dirk Ahrens: In 2013, Aidshilfe stopped organizing the event. We said at the gay regulars’ table that the king must not die. We continued this on a private level. And we gave the king a slightly different picture because the issue of HIV had faded into the background a little at that time. From then on, the king was supposed to advocate for acceptance of queer life in the countryside.
taz: How did he become courtable?
Dirk Ahrens: We came up with the idea of registering ourselves in the aristocratic list of product queens, in which all of Germany’s majesties are represented. As a result, we were invited to the enthronement of the Heath Queen of Arlinghausen for the first time in 2017. We will now from the other majesties very well received and also go to their festivities.
taz: What does that mean?
Dirk Ahrens: We travel to Fehmarn to the Rapeseed Blossom Queen or to the Potato Queen in Bad Bevensen. That’s around thirty appearances that the king makes there. So you visit each other and promote your region or your product. And we advertise for queer people.
The new gay heath king will be enthroned in Lüneburg on February 14th
taz: In the meantime, the election of the new king and his enthronement are taking place in a suitably aristocratic setting.
Dirk Ahrens: Exactly, thanks to us Mayor Claudia Kalisch We have been allowed to vote in the Prince’s Hall of the town hall for three years. This is the most magnificent hall there is in Lüneburg and is actually only available for receptions and concerts.
taz: This means that the gay heath king has arrived in the better society of the city. That probably wouldn’t have been possible with gold swimming trunks.
Dirk Ahrens: That’s correct. The king now appears in normal clothes. This may have made it easier for us to get into the civic celebrations. But the king is always allowed to choose his own costume. There has also been a king who went on stage wearing a baseball cap and jeans.
taz: What role does the gay heath king play in view of the increasing right-wing shift in Germany?
Dirk Ahrens: A few years ago, when the Marriage for everyone came, we said that soon we would no longer need the king. But now it has become more important than ever. If the conservatives in the CDU and the AFD become stronger, we will have queer people a worse life again and we have to take action against that. We do this by showing ourselves and encouraging other people who live in the countryside.