They sharply attacked the transsexual deputy prime minister of Belgium

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The Belgian deputy prime minister, the first high-ranking transgender politician in the country's history, has been the target of verbal attacks by the far right, the Associated Press reported. The new Belgian government was sworn in only on Saturday. It includes the transsexual Petra De Souter of the Greens . A professor of gynecology, she was elected to the European Parliament last year.

"I am proud that in (Belgium) and most of the (European Union) your gender identity does not define you as a person and that it does not matter," De Suter wrote on Twitter, taking the oath. She expressed hope that her appointment as deputy prime minister "could provoke debate in countries where this is not yet possible".

Today, however, De Souter was sharply criticized in the regional parliament of her native Flanders.

It "wants to destroy and replace all the foundations of our Western civilization," Bart Kles of the Vlaams Belang party (Flemish Interest) responded on Facebook.

Referred to by De Suter's colleagues from the Greens, the Speaker of the Regional Parliament, Lisbeth Homans, expressed support for the transgender Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and sharply rebuked the far-right politician. At the same time, Homans defended freedom of speech.

Bart Kless, for his part, did not back down. "I don't see where the problem is. I said he was transsexual ... he was transsexual," he wrote on Facebook.