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Berlin Pride through the years

Berlin celebrated its 40th annual LGBT Pride celebration, also known as Christopher Street Day, in 2018. A look back at the history of one of Europe's biggest Pride festivals.

  • Bernd Gaiser, founder of Christopher Street Day (picture-alliance/TSP/M. Wolff )

    Groundbreaker

    Bernd Gaiser, a longtime rights activist, founded Berlin Pride in 1979. Gaiser told Die Zeit newspaper in 2018 that his community realized, "that only when we, as gay men and lesbians, go out in public and confront society ... can we force them to change their attitudes towards us." About 500 people attended that first celebration.

  • Two men dressed up in front of Brandenburg Gate

    Fight for your rights

    Each year, Berlin Pride has a different theme decided upon by a public forum. In 1998, for the first time, the party got political. "We demand equal rights," was the theme. Same-sex couples were not even allowed legally recognized civil partnerships in Germany until 2001.

  • Berlin celebrates Christopher Street Day

    Christopher Street Day

    In many German cities, Pride is also known as Christopher Street Day or CSD. Christopher Street is the New York location of the Stonewall Inn. In the early hours of July 28, 1969, police led a brutal raid inside the famous gay bar. The ensuing violent demonstrations of gay and lesbian New Yorkers against the excessive force used by police became known as the Stonewall Riots.

  • Wolfgang Thierse attends Christoper Street Day in Berlin (picture-alliance/dpa)

    Mainstream support

    In February 2001, same-sex couples were granted legal civil unions, largely due to the efforts of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who were in power at the time and able to pass the law over the protests of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU). SPD Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse (left) attended Berlin Pride that year in a sign of solidarity.

  • Brandenburg state Police Commissioner Marco Klingberg and others march (picture-alliance/dpa/J. Carstensen)

    Activists in all forms

    In 2014, as the fight to legalize gay marriage was heating up, Brandenburg state Police Commissioner risked disciplinary action by marching in the Pride Parade in his uniform without permission. Over the years, CSD Berlin has become of the biggest pride celebrations in the world.

  • Revellers march along Straße des 17. Juni

    Marriage legalization

    The 2017 parade would be the last before gay marriage was legalized in Germany, which came in October of that year after Chancellor Angela Merkel manuevered a way to let it happen without herself having to promote it and alienate her more conservative voter base. However, the LGBT community in Germany still faces regular discrimination, such as in adoption law.

  • Miss CSD 2018 greets her adoring fans

    Miss CSD

    From 500 attendants in 1979, Berlin Pride now averages about 500,000 participants a year. The celebration is no longer just for the LGBT community, but for allies as well.

  • A costumed reveller holds a sign asking people to avoid plastic waste

    Always political

    Pride is often political, and the causes championed each year at Christopher Street Day are not only LGBT rights but human rights and problems that affect all people. Here, a participant holds up an environmental awareness sign: "Avoid plastic waste!"


  • Bernd Gaiser, founder of Christopher Street Day (picture-alliance/TSP/M. Wolff )

    Groundbreaker

    Bernd Gaiser, a longtime rights activist, founded Berlin Pride in 1979. Gaiser told Die Zeit newspaper in 2018 that his community realized, "that only when we, as gay men and lesbians, go out in public and confront society ... can we force them to change their attitudes towards us." About 500 people attended that first celebration.

  • Two men dressed up in front of Brandenburg Gate

    Fight for your rights

    Each year, Berlin Pride has a different theme decided upon by a public forum. In 1998, for the first time, the party got political. "We demand equal rights," was the theme. Same-sex couples were not even allowed legally recognized civil partnerships in Germany until 2001.

  • Berlin celebrates Christopher Street Day

    Christopher Street Day

    In many German cities, Pride is also known as Christopher Street Day or CSD. Christopher Street is the New York location of the Stonewall Inn. In the early hours of July 28, 1969, police led a brutal raid inside the famous gay bar. The ensuing violent demonstrations of gay and lesbian New Yorkers against the excessive force used by police became known as the Stonewall Riots.

  • Wolfgang Thierse attends Christoper Street Day in Berlin (picture-alliance/dpa)

    Mainstream support

    In February 2001, same-sex couples were granted legal civil unions, largely due to the efforts of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who were in power at the time and able to pass the law over the protests of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU). SPD Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse (left) attended Berlin Pride that year in a sign of solidarity.

  • Brandenburg state Police Commissioner Marco Klingberg and others march (picture-alliance/dpa/J. Carstensen)

    Activists in all forms

    In 2014, as the fight to legalize gay marriage was heating up, Brandenburg state Police Commissioner risked disciplinary action by marching in the Pride Parade in his uniform without permission. Over the years, CSD Berlin has become of the biggest pride celebrations in the world.

  • Revellers march along Straße des 17. Juni

    Marriage legalization

    The 2017 parade would be the last before gay marriage was legalized in Germany, which came in October of that year after Chancellor Angela Merkel manuevered a way to let it happen without herself having to promote it and alienate her more conservative voter base. However, the LGBT community in Germany still faces regular discrimination, such as in adoption law.

  • Miss CSD 2018 greets her adoring fans

    Miss CSD

    From 500 attendants in 1979, Berlin Pride now averages about 500,000 participants a year. The celebration is no longer just for the LGBT community, but for allies as well.

  • A costumed reveller holds a sign asking people to avoid plastic waste

    Always political

    Pride is often political, and the causes championed each year at Christopher Street Day are not only LGBT rights but human rights and problems that affect all people. Here, a participant holds up an environmental awareness sign: "Avoid plastic waste!"


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