Christopher Street Day / CSD PARADE / Gay and Lesbian Demo

In the hot summer months from June to August every year nationwide and in most neighboring neighboring countries the Christopher Street Day, CSD for short, takes place. Every weekend, thousands or even thousands of attendees gather for the CSD Parade to enter the streets with the Christopher Street Day for the equality of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders.
 

The beginnings of Christopher Street Day / CSD

Christopher Street Day was first held in New York in 1969 and was the reaction of gays to the aggressive and brutal attacks of the police. In the gay district of Greenwich Village, there were always bloody raids by the government, which at that time increasingly controlled bars and places frequented by homosexuals. On June 28, 1969, Stonewall was violently attacked by the police, resulting in violent opposition from the visitors. The discussion with the police officers, and the resulting street battles, lasted for days and were the birthdays of Christopher Street Day, today's CSD's. Since that time, New York has been celebrating Christopher Street Day every year on the last Saturday of June, hosting one of the largest gay pride parades in the country.

CSD parade in the Federal Republic

Already in 1972 there were the first Gay Pride demonstrations of gays and lesbians, which were mainly directed against § 175, which was still from the time of national socialism and criminalized sexual activity between persons of the male sex. While the GDR had already replaced the paragraph in 1968, the Federal Republic of Germany still held the text of § 175 for two decades.

The first CSD demos under the name Christopher Street Day and its model from the USA took place then 1979. The most diverse groupings around gay and lesbian life were usually the right to a Christopher Street Day demonstration in their city. The sometimes strong counter-defense of citizens' initiatives and the Catholic Church against Christopher Street Day encouraged more and more gays and lesbians to show in their city flag. The flag and flag was chosen for the Christopher Street Day in 1978 by the colorful rainbow flag of the artist Gilbert Baker. The different colors of the rainbow are to demonstrate pride, the diversity of sexuality and different ways of life. In contrast to the rainbow flag of the PAC peace movement, the "gay rainbow" of the Christopher Street Day is sorted differently and has only six colors instead of seven.