Time for Pride

Around the clock, you can attend queer events, listen to exciting talks and discussions, and take part in a variety of guided tours and exhibitions - all with a special focus on the diversity we live every day. The highlight of this week is the big CSD demonstration on 3 August, organized by Hamburg Pride, under the motto “5 to 12! You & me against right-wing pressure.”

The popularity of Pride Week did not come from just anywhere: not so long ago, same-sex marriages, non-binary gender identities or non-cis-heteronormative lifestyles were rejected, frowned upon and even banned by law. In Germany, the first CSD demonstration took place in 1979 with three-digit numbers of participants. However, the CSD movement originated in New York in the 1960s. At the time of the beginnings of queer groups and the first gay movements, there were regular police raids and event closures in New York City, as the free expression of sexuality was not allowed.

The straw that broke the camel's back took place on June 28, 1969, on the corner of Christopher Street at the Stonewall Inn - a nondescript bar with a queer, African-American and Latino clientele. During a spontaneous raid, riots broke out in which police abuse was violently suppressed by the bar's customers. The “Stonewall Riots” are still referred to today as the turning point in the history of discrimination against queer people.

Shortly after the events on Christopher Street, the Gay Liberation Front was founded, which organized a demonstrative march through New York the following year, in 1970, to commemorate the Stonewall Riots. This laid the foundations for Christopher Street Day, and in the years that followed, more and more queer groups formed to commemorate the Stonewall riots through demonstrations and protests and to campaign for the decriminalization of sexuality and gender diversity around the world.  

The visibility of the Pride movement is still incredibly important for gender equality work, because even today - despite marriage for all, despite the Self-Determination Act, despite 250,000 CSD demonstrators last year in Hamburg - queer people are treated with hostility, devalued and discriminated against on a daily basis. In order to set an example for anti-discrimination, equality of all genders, as well as acceptance, inclusion and cosmopolitanism, and to show queer people that they can be free of fear and live out their identity safely, the “Hamburg zeigt Flagge” (“Hamburg flies the flag”) campaign was launched. Many companies, authorities, public buildings and social groups fly the progressive Pride flag at this time to show solidarity with queer people.

As the AStA of the TUHH, we speak out clearly and unequivocally for the rights of queer people and their equality. For years, we have been constantly working on improving and making visible the circumstances that queer people face on campus. This year, we've printed tons of flags for you all to hang in your office windows on campus. Pick up your flag at the AStA office (E-0.069) during office hours and make the campus as colorful as possible! Join us in setting an example for diversity and appreciation, and show your fellow human beings how much you value them!

We wish you a fabulous Pride Week!
Your AStA