There were queer parades over the weekend in Leipzig, Frankfurt and Rostock. The outfits were often colorful. The appearance of a man all in black in Munich was unusual.
Munich/Frankfurt/Rostock/Leipzig/Berlin – The Catholic clergyman Wolfgang Rothe showed the flag at Christopher Street Day in Munich: Rothe ran with black trousers, a black shirt, a white priest’s collar and a rainbow flag at the CSD’s political parade on Saturday.
Around 140 groups with elaborately decorated floats took part in Munich. There were also parades for more respect on Saturday in Leipzig (around 20,000 participants), Frankfurt am Main (13,500 participants) and Rostock (10,000 participants). In Berlin, the celebrations around the CSD in Berlin began next weekend with the lesbian and gay street festival in Berlin-Schoeneberg.
Christopher Street Day takes place every year in many cities around the world and commemorates the events of June 28, 1969: At that time, police officers stormed the New York gay and lesbian bar “Stonewall Inn” on Christopher Street, triggering multi-day protests by gays, lesbians and transsexuals. The CSD is intended to remind of the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, intersex and queer people.
Blessings for gay couples
“For my part, I would like to ask for forgiveness for what was done to queer people in our church,” said Rothe, who is parish vicar in a Munich parish, before moving to the Bavarian capital. “I fully share the goals of the CSD”.
According to the police, more than 25,000 people marched through Munich during the parade in pleasant summer temperatures, many in colorful, imaginative costumes. The openly gay vicar Rothe wanted to set an example with his participation for the first time. In 2021, he blessed homosexual couples in a Catholic service, against the wishes of the Vatican. At the beginning of the year he published a book about being Catholic queer: “Wanted. loved. Blessed.”.
A lot is happening now: In January, 125 queer church employees came out and protested against discrimination in the workplace under the motto #OutInChurch. And the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, recently announced a change in church labor law. So far, in the Catholic Church, it can cost you a job to commit to a same-sex partnership, for example. Rothe spoke of steps in the right direction. “These are signals that should give hope,” he said. But: “You will see how consistent that turns out in the end.” dpa
