First of all, you can expect up to half a million happy people in rainbow colors and Pride flags to take to the streets of central Berlin. Christopher Street Day in Berlin is known to attract hundreds of thousands of participants and spectators.

Pride in Berlin is called Christopher Street Day

The day is named after the street in New York City where Pride around the world originated.

At the Stonewall Inn gay bar on Christopher Street in New York, the police had repeatedly raided and arrested the guests. The trans women in particular were subjected to harassment and degrading treatment by the police, and on June 28, 1969, they had all had enough when the police raided the bar once again.

Street fights against the police broke out and lasted several days, with violence, flying cobblestones and fire in the streets. Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people all took part in the fight against the police.

The following year, the LGBT+ community marked the riots with a march through the streets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the first ever Pride.

Christopher Street Day in Berlin takes its name from the events in New York in 1969 and maintains that Pride is a demonstration, not a parade, for LGBTQIA+ people’s rights.

What is the demonstration about?

In addition to LGBTQIA+ rights in general, Christopher Street Day also has a specific focus on current events around the world. For example, threatened democracies, hate speech, gender minorities in countries at war or authoritarian regimes.

The demonstration is several kilometers long. Longer than the route itself. The loudspeaker trucks with the organizers shouting out this year’s messages reach the finish line before the sponsor vans start.

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