Berlin: Christopher Street Day Parade
July 22, 2016
This year’s motto "Thanks for nothing" refers to the fact that gays and lesbians are still waiting for truly equal rights.
"It spite of the many steps forward, we’re still a long way away from truly equal rights. Same-sex marriage, adoption for everyone, rehabilitation of all those convicted under former Section 175 criminalizing homosexuality and protection for gay refugees - all this has not been forthcoming. This year we’re done showing gratitude for a few crumbs," say the organizers, the Berlin CSD Society, in their official statement.
43 associations, companies and groups in 51 vehicles will be forming up for the parade from Kurfürstendamm to the Victory Column and on to the Brandenburg Gate. Among them is one from the United States embassy, the birthplace of the protest movement.
Only recently, a homophobic attack on a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, sent shockwaves of horror around the world. 49 people were shot and killed by a lone terrorist on June 12th.
Berlin’s very first Christopher Street Day took place on June 30th, 1979. The motto for the approx. 450 demonstrators in the streets of then still West Berlin was simply "Gay Pride".
In 2016, CSD demonstrations are planned for over 40 German cities. The biggest parades are to be in Cologne and Berlin.
Demonstrations and festivals under the initials "CSD" commemorate an incident on June 28th, 1969. After the police raided the Stonewall Inn bar in New York City, gays, lesbians and transgender people rioted on Christopher Street. The name still stands for resistance to discrimination. Internationally, the terms "pride" and "gay pride" are used more often.
is/ks/mm (dpa)