Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder wants to do without gender in his speech on Political Ash Wednesday in Passau. "On Ash Wednesday I will address the guests in a very old-fashioned way with 'ladies and gentlemen'," said the CSU boss of the Bayern media group. "We don't do compulsive gendering in Bavaria."

The Prime Minister emphasized: "In Bavaria, everyone can be happy in their own way. We do not submit to any re-education fantasies here, nor do we operate a cancel culture here."

After several exceptional years, the traditional Ash Wednesday rallies of the parties will take place again on Wednesday in the usual format. In the 2021 federal election year, there was only a slimmed-down digital version due to the corona pandemic, with speeches via live stream. In 2022, the rallies were completely canceled because of the outbreak of war in Ukraine. This year, the events are also influenced by the upcoming state election campaign: In Bavaria, a new state parliament will be elected on October 8th.