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 - or CSD - in Berlin is known to attract hundreds of thousands of participants and spectators.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets on Christopher Street Day.Photo by Chrissie Sternschnuppe@Flickr. CC BY-SA
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.
Christopher St. on Manhattan where it all began in 1969.Photo by Colin W@WikiediaCommons. CC BY-SA
Riots broke out against the police, with two trans women in particular in front. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, now considered icons of Pride worldwide. The riots lasted several days, with violence, 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.
There can be no thought of finishing for ‘aiming for the stars.’ Both figuratively and literally, it is a task to occupy the generations. And no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning.
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.
'Wir sind keine Parade!' – We're not a parade!Photo by Chrissie Sternschnuppe@Flickr. CC BY-SA
What is the demonstration about?
Every year, Christopher Street Day also has a motto. In 2023, the motto was Empathy and Solidarity, based on the idea that queers should stick together, whether we are victims of the war in Ukraine, whether we are queers from the regime in Iran, whether we belong to the small minorities in the community, or whether we belong to the majority that blends in unnoticed.
We are one community and we must stand together and stand up for each other.
The loudspeaker truck is in the front of the demonstration.Photo by Chrissie Sternschnuppe@Flickr. CC BY-SA
The demonstration is 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.
Hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other sexual and gender minorities are taking part in the demonstration or have turned up to cheer and watch. Some in their everyday clothes, others in rainbow colors, and yet others in drag, costumes and other outfits known from the LGBT+ community.
A protester wearing wings at the CSD in 2022.Photo by Chrissie Sternschnuppe@Flickr. CC BY-SA
The route for 2024 has not been published yet, but you will get it here on this page in details as soon as CSD Berlin publishes it.
| Where: | The center of Berlin, usually in the areas around Potsdamer Platz, Nollendorf Platz, Tiergarten and Brandenburger Tor. |
| When: | Not announced |
| Family Friendly: | Yes. |
| Price: | Free, unless you want to join the demonstration with a truck. Click here to register your truck. |