Berlin Pride

The Berlin Pride Celebration, also known as Christopher Street Day Berlin, or CSD Berlin, is a pride parade and festival held in the second half of July each year in Berlin, Germany to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people and their allies. Since 1979, the event has been held each year. Berlin Pride is one of the largest gay and lesbian organized events in Germany and one of the biggest in Europe. Its aim is to demonstrate for equal rights and equal treatment for LGBT people, as well as celebrate the pride in Gay and Lesbian Culture.

History The CSD is held in memory of the Stonewall Riots, the first big uprising of LGBTQ people against police assaults on 27 June 1969. These took place in Christopher Street, in the neighborhood of Greenwich Village in New York City, New York. Bernd Gaiser founded the first Berlin Pride in 1979 after moving to West Berlin in 1967 in his early twenties.

The first CSD in Berlin took place on 30 June 1979, and since then has taken place every year. In 2012, around 700,000 people attended the CSD Parade, and 500,000 people were present at the final parade location at the Brandenburg Gate, making it into one of the largest events in Berlin as well as one of the largest Pride Events in the world.

The 2026 CSD was ended early after a van was rammed into a nearby crowd. One woman was killed and 31 people were injured, several critically. The perpetrator, a 21-year-old German of Lebanese parentage, fled the scene and was fatally shot by police the next day.

Mottoes and attendance at CSD Berlin

In the early years, the Berlin CSD was a relatively small event. From 400 participants in 1979, the number slowly grew to 5,000 people in 1989. It was only from the mid-1990s that the Berlin CSD gave itself an annual motto.

The number of participants and mottos from 1990:

Year Participants Floats Motto (in German) 1990 15,000 ? 1991 10,000 ? 1992 25,000 ? 1993 30,000 ? Vielfalt und Schwesterlichkeit, Solidarität über alle Grenzen 1994 35,000 ? We are family! 1995 40,000 ? 1996 50,000 60(No specific motto, it just had "CSD '96" as its motto) 1997 120,000 ? Andersrum muss gerechnet werden 1998 300,000 ? Für eine andere Politik – wir fordern gleiche Rechte 1999 350,000 78 Dreißig Jahre Stonewall 2000 500,000 81 Unsere Vielfalt zieht an 2001 500,000 89 Berlin stellt sich qu(e)er gegen rechts 2002 550,000 89 Wir machen Berlin anders! Weltoffen, tolerant queer! 2003 600,000 59 Akzeptanz statt Toleranz 2004 450,000 71 Homokulturell – Multisexuell – Heterogen! 2005 400,000 58 Unser Europa gestalten wir! 2006 450,000 52 Verschiedenheit und Recht und Freiheit 2007 450,000 66 Vielfalt sucht Arbeit 2008 500,000 48 Hass du was dagegen? 2009 550,000 51 Stück für Stück ins Homo-Glück – Alle Rechte für alle! 2010 600,000 52 Normal ist anders! 2011 700,000 52 Fairplay für Vielfalt! 2012 700,000 46 Wissen schafft Akzeptanz 2013 750,000 50 Schluss mit Sonntagsreden! Demonstrieren! Wählen! Verändern! 2014 500,000 29 LGBTI-Rechte sind Menschenrechte 2015 750,000 55 Wir sind alle anders. Wir sind alle gleich. 2016 500,000 51 Anders. Leben! 2017 400,000 58 Mehr von uns – jede Stimme gegen Rechts 2018 Hundreds of thousands 59Mein Körper, meine Identität, mein Leben! 2019 1,000,000 83Stonewall 50 – Every riot starts with your voice 2021 65,000 N/ASave our Community – save our pride 2022 350,000–600,000 96United in Love! Gegen Hass, Krieg und Diskriminierung 2023 500,000 75Be their voice - and ours! ... für mehr Empathie und Solidarität!

Events CSD Berlin comprises several events, taking place within the framework of the month-long Pride Festival, usually starting at the end of May. Pride Week is the final week of the festival, ending with the CSD Parade. The CSD Gala has been taking place since 2011, and is organised in co-operation with the Friedrichstadt Show Palace.

In the same month both Kreuzberg Pride and Gay Night at the Zoo are held. More gay festivals in Berlin include Easter Berlin.

Organization All CSD events are organised by the Berliner CSD e.V. (Berlin LGBT Pride Association). The organization was formed at the end of 1999. The association was meant to relieve the three previous coordinators: the "Sonntags-Club", "LSVD" and "Mann-o-Meter", who had been organizing the "CSD Berlin" from 1994 to 1999.

Each year, the theme, motto and political demands of the CSD Parade are determined in so-called Pride Forums. These are open meetings that can be attended by anyone.

In June 2010, American philosopher and theorist Judith Butler refused CSD Berlin's Civil Courage Award (Zivilcouragepreis) at the award ceremony, arguing that the parade had become too commercial, and was ignoring the problems of racism and double discrimination facing homosexual or transsexual migrants. According to Butler, even the organizers themselves promote racism.Butler, Judith. I must distance myself from this complicity with racism (Video) (Transcript). Christopher Street Day 'Civil Courage Prize' Day Refusal Speech. European_Graduate_School. 19 June 2010. The general manager of the CSD committee, Robert Kastl, countered Butler's allegations and pointed out that the organizers already awarded a counselling center for lesbians dealing with double discrimination in 2006. Regarding the allegations of commercialism Kastl explained further that the CSD organizers do not require small groups to pay a participation fee which starts at 50 € and goes up to 1500 €. He also distanced himself from all forms of racism and Islamophobia.

Berlin Pride

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