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 | 59 | Mein Körper, meine Identität, mein Leben! |
| 2019 | 1,000,000 | 83 | Stonewall 50 – Every riot starts with your voice |
| 2021 | 65,000 | N/A | Save our Community – save our pride |
| 2022 | 350,000–600,000 | 96 | United in Love! Gegen Hass, Krieg und Diskriminierung |
| 2023 | 500,000 | 75 | Be 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. 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.
