The 'Anti-Democratic Moderate Femocrat': Conservative Christian Democratic Female Politicians and the Mainstreaming of Anti-Trans Discourse in Germany

Germany expanded the rights of trans*people in 2024, yet they remain contested. The extreme-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is seeking a repeal of the Self-ID Law. The mainstream conservative, right-wing party CDU/CSU has suggested an evaluation of the Self-ID Law. In parliamentary debates around the law, the AfD has accused the CDU/CSU of being “pseudo-conservative”. Left-wing accusations of mainstream complicity in normalising far-right, anti-trans* discourse form a second boundary constraining CDU/CSU positioning towards the law. These dynamics make the Self-ID Law a test for the “firewall”. Looking at the contributions of feminists to the anti-trans* coalition that spans from far right to gender-critical feminism, scholarship often foregrounds left-leaning, trans*-exclusionary feminists, while conservative feminists remain under-examined. The paper addresses that gap by focusing on the women's union of the CDU (FU). I ask how the FU contributes to the anti-trans* coalition. I argue that FU elites act as anti-democratic, moderate femocrats. They mobilise the language of democracy, including debate, procedure, values, society, and centre, to legitimise restrictive measures and present rollback as ‘good governance’ rather than ideological extremism. This centrist discourse allows the FU to distance itself from far-right populism, while aligning it with shared frames and policy outcome goals. Theoretically, the paper draws on framing theory and proposes shared legitimation frames as the coordinating mechanism that enables coalition effects without formal cooperation. Empirically, a deductive grid of frames guides a discourse analysis of FU materials, including media, social media, documents, and eighteen semi-structured in-depth interviews with FU leaders conducted in 2025. Findings show: recurrent use of debate, culture and free speech to contest self-identification; proceduralism, voiced as “too far, too fast” and “society not taken along”, to slow or restrict implementation; appeals to democratic values that repackage exclusions as protections for women, children and migrants; and centrist self-placement to justify restrictions. A complementary statesmanship register shifts decisions into administrative routines, grounded in expert oversight, parental authority and biologised categories, conferring governmental authority on exclusionary outcomes. Thus, the paper proposes the ‘anti-democratic moderate femocrat’ to explain how mainstream conservative female politicians legitimise rollback of trans*rights in Germany.