EGPA Conference 2014 Berlin
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In 1994, shortly after Section 175 of the German criminal law code<br />
was retracted, the <strong>Berlin</strong> journalist Jens DOBLER initiated the first<br />
federal seminar in Göttingen which around 30 police officers attended.<br />
The same year lesbian and homosexual societies, often with different<br />
names, were founded in several federal German states. In order to<br />
protect interests on a national level, all the federal societies adopted<br />
the same name “VelsPol” which stands for “Verein lesbischer und<br />
schwuler Polizeibediensteter” (Society of Lesbian and Homosexual<br />
members of the Police Force) and joined the umbrella organization<br />
“Verband lesbischer und schwuler Polizeibediensteter” (Association<br />
of Lesbian and Homosexual members of the Police Force) in 2002.<br />
This enabled work to start on a national level. In order to represent<br />
German interests on a European level, VelsPol Deutschland<br />
(VelsPol Germany) joined the <strong>EGPA</strong>.