Dirk Behrendt

Behrendt grew up in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf in the Märkisches Viertel housing development. Both his parents were involved in the Social Democratic Party (SPD).{{cite web|url=https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/Dirk+Behrendt/0/30910.html|title=Dirk Behrendt|date=14 February 2017|access-date=25 January 2022|language=de|website=Munzinger-Archiv}} Behrendt initially gravitated toward the Social Democrats politically, but turned to the Greens in the 1990s because of their line on asylum policy.{{cite web|url=https://www.fr.de/politik/boese-jungsspiele-11366212.html|title=Controversy in the Greens: bad boy games|date=12 November 2011|language=de|website=Frankfurter Rundschau}} In 1992, he moved into a shared apartment in the Kreuzberg neighbourhood. He now lives in Kreuzberg with his partner Daniel Wesener.{{cite web|url=https://www.queer.de/detail.php?article_id=27574|title=Berlin: Queer politics in gay hands|date=17 November 2016|language=de|website=Queer.de}}

Behrendt earned his Abitur in 1990. He studied law from 1990 to 1995, earning his doctorate on the subject of The auditing activities of the Federal Audit Office outside of the direct federal administration at the Free University of Berlin, and completed his legal clerkship at the Kammergericht (Supreme Court). He then entered the judiciary from 2000, working first at the Landgericht Berlin (Regional Court), then at the Berlin-Mitte and Köpenick local courts. From 2005 to 2006, he held a judgeship at the Berlin Administrative Court. From 2003 to 2005, he was the state spokesman for the New Judges Association of Berlin/Brandenburg.{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/personen/DE/laender-ausgeschieden-mediathek/be/behrendt-dirk.html|title=Dr. Dirk Behrendt|access-date=25 January 2022|language=de|website=German Bundesrat}}

Behrendt has been a member of the Greens since 1994. From 1995 to 1999, he was a member of the Kreuzberg district council, where was chairman of the Environment and Transportation Committee and a member of the Economic Committee. During the interim coalition of the SPD and Greens which governed Berlin in late 2001, Behrendt was a staff member for Senator for Justice Wolfgang Wieland.

Behrendt was elected to the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin in the 2006 Berlin state election as representative for Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 2, winning 42% of the vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.xhain.info/wahl2006/wahlkreis2.htm|title=Electoral district 2 - election 2006|access-date=24 January 2022|language=de|website=Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Portal}} He became legal policy spokesman for the Greens faction, and a member of the Interior Committee and Constitution and Law Committee.

In 2011, Behrendt drew attention to the problems caused by booming tourism in Kreuzberg,{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/kreuzberger-naechte-massentourismus-nervt-die-bewohner-im-szene-kiez/3888814.html|title=Mass tourism annoys residents in the hip neighborhood|date=28 February 2011|language=de|website=Tagesspiegel}} accusing the SPD–Left government of praising the numbers but ignoring the issues.{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/weltstadt-berlin-kreuzberger-protestieren-gegen-touristifizierung-a-748314.html|title=Kreuzberger protest against "touristification"|date=1 March 2011|language=de|website=Der Spiegel}} He opposed strengthening law enforcement to shut down loud parties, instead proposing limits on overnight accommodation in the borough.{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/kreuzberg-und-die-touristen-das-ist-nicht-mehr-unser-wrangelkiez/3893872.html|title="This is no longer our Wrangelkiez"|date=1 March 2011|language=de|website=Tagesspiegel}} He was re-elected to the Abgeordnetenhaus in the 2011 Berlin state election, winning 49.8% in his constituency, the strongest result for any directly elected member.{{cite web|url=http://wahlarchiv.tagesschau.de/wahlen/2011-09-18-LT-DE-BE/html-wkreise-2.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923150904/http://wahlarchiv.tagesschau.de/wahlen/2011-09-18-LT-DE-BE/html-wkreise-2.shtml|archive-date=23 September 2011|title=Electoral districts in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg|language=de|website=Tagesschau}}

Behrendt is considered a representative of the left-wing of the Greens, and during his time in the Abgeordnetenhaus, he had a feud with the more conservative faction co-leader Volker Ratzmann. After the 2011 election, Behrendt challenged him for the leadership, but was unsuccessful.

Behrendt did not seek re-election in the 2016 Berlin state election.{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/berliner-gruene-waehlen-ihre-kandidaten-einige-parlamentarier-schaffen-es-nicht-auf-die-liste/13316124.html|title=Berlin Greens select their candidates: some deputies don't make it onto the list|date=14 March 2016|language=de|website=Tagesspiegel}}

After the 2016 election, Beherndt was appointed Senator for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-Discrimination in the second Müller senate.{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/themen/reportage/neuer-justizsenator-dirk-behrendt-der-anklaeger/14948126.html|title=New Justice Senator: the prosecutor|date=8 December 2016|language=de|website=Tagesspiegel}}

In 2018, he suggested that fare evasion should be classified as a misdemeanour rather than a felony, and proposed a corresponding initiative for consideration by the German Bundesrat. At the same time, he opposed completely free public transit on that basis that tourists should be required to pay to ride, though he was open to dropping fees for Berlin residents.{{cite news|url=https://taz.de/Debatte-um-Schwarzfahrer/!5568807/|title=Debate about fare dodgers: leaving the slammer|date=9 February 2019|language=de|website=Die Tageszeitung |last1=Heim |first1=Manuela }}{{cite web|url=https://www.tip-berlin.de/kultur/justizsenator-dirk-behrendt-ueber-den-oeffentlichen-nahverkehr-schwarzfahren-seinen-dienstwagen/|title=Justice Senator Dirk Behrendt on local public transport, fare evasion and his company car|date=19 November 2018|language=de|website=tipBerlin|access-date=25 January 2022|archive-date=25 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125042350/https://www.tip-berlin.de/kultur/justizsenator-dirk-behrendt-ueber-den-oeffentlichen-nahverkehr-schwarzfahren-seinen-dienstwagen/|url-status=dead}}

In March 2020, Behrendt said that Germany had a human rights obligation to take refugees from the Moria refugee camp in Greece, and suggested that the state government could collaborate with non-governmental organisations to fly refugees to Berlin if the federal government did not take timely action.{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/berlin-will-bis-zu-1500-gefluechtete-von-lesbos-retten-eine-menschenrechtliche-verpflichtung/25696188.html|title=Berlin wants to take up to 1,500 refugees from Lesbos: "A human rights obligation"|date=30 March 2020|language=de|website=Tagesspiegel}}

Behrendt left office after the 2021 Berlin state election and the formation of the Giffey senate, and was succeeded as Justice Senator by Lena Kreck of The Left.

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=https://www.bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/personen/DE/laender-ausgeschieden-mediathek/be/behrendt-dirk.html|title=Dr. Dirk Behrendt|access-date=25 January 2022|language=de|website=German Bundesrat}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/Dirk+Behrendt/0/30910.html|title=Dirk Behrendt|date=14 February 2017|access-date=25 January 2022|language=de|website=Munzinger-Archiv}}

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Category:1971 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alliance 90/The Greens politicians

Category:21st-century German politicians

Category:German gay politicians

Category:LGBTQ legislators in Germany

Category:20th-century German LGBTQ people

Category:21st-century German LGBTQ people