Michael Kauch (born 4 May 1967, in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party who served as Member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

between 2003 and 2013.

Early life and education

Kauch was born in Dortmund and attended the ''Helmholtz-Gymnasium''. He studied economics at the

University of Dortmund TU Dortmund University (german: Technische Universität Dortmund) is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's and ...

from 1986 to 1993.

Political career

Kauch became a member of the Free Democratic Party in Germany in 1989. On 14 June 2003 Kauch became a member of the Bundestag, taking the seat of

Jürgen Möllemann Jürgen Wilhelm Möllemann (15 July 1945 – 5 June 2003) was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as Minister of State at the Foreign Office (1982–1987), as Minister of Education and Research (1987–1991), ...

who had deceased shortly before. Throughout his time in parliament, he was as a member of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and of the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development. He also served as his parliamentary group’s

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

organ transplantation Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ (anatomy), organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organ ...

and

palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...

(2005-2009). In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

of the FDP and the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social Un ...

) following the 2009 federal elections, Kauch led the FDP delegation in the working group on environmental policy, agriculture and consumer protection; his counterpart of the CDU/CSU was

Ilse Aigner Ilse Aigner (born 7 December 1964) is a German politician and member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Aigner was born in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Bavaria, and entered Angela Merkel's grand coalition cabinet as Federal Minister of ...

. In late 2018, Kauch announced that he would run for a parliamentary seat in the 2019 European elections. In the negotiations to form a

between the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

and FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Kauch was part of his party's delegation in the working group on equality, co-chaired by Petra Köpping,

Ricarda Lang Ricarda Lang (born 17 January 1994) is a German politician who is serving as co-leader of the Alliance 90/The Greens since January 2022, alongside Omid Nouripour. She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2021. Previously, she was co-deputy le ...

and Herbert Mertin.

Other activities

* GLOBE Europe, President *

Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation The Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation (Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung) was founded in Berlin in June 2007. It is a foundation focused on human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Name origin The Foundation's name remembers two perso ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * Initiative Queer Nations (IQN), Member * Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees

Personal life

Kauch is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. (German)

Notes

External links

Official Site of Michael Kauch

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kauch, Michael 1967 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Gay politicians German gay men LGBT members of the Bundestag Politicians from Dortmund Technical University of Dortmund alumni Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany)