gay pride – Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV.

I am always amazed at how constantly there is stuff to do in the Altstadt on weekends.

Saturday the 15th of June was once again Christopher Street Day. I first encountered this one last year, quite by accident. Christopher Street day is a gay pride event held in Germany and Switzerland. It’s an anniversary to the LGBT uprisings in the Stonewall Riots on June 28, 1969. The Stonewall Inn was on Christopher Street, hence the name. The event isn’t always held on the actual anniversary for organizational reasons, but it usually turns up in June.

This is a huge event in Berlin and Cologne, but the day is celebrated in major cities all over the country. There was a parade this year, but I missed it because I didn’t realize that it was happening until after it had concluded. Blast! I really need to put this on my calendar for next year so I don’t miss the parade!

I took a bunch more pictures this year than I did last year.

Have you ever seen a Christopher Street Day celebration?

This town consistently does little things to remind me just how awesome it is. For example, we wanted to go to dinner tonight at Pam Pam, a great little Italian restaurant in the Altstadt. Dinner was fabulous, and so was the event we found when we got to Haidplatz.

As we rounded the corner, we walked into the midst of an enormous crowd. There were tents, kiosks, and a small stage. A band had just started playing the classic Toto song, “Hold The Line.”

As I looked around, I noticed some other things- lots of rainbow flags, for one thing. And a lot of same-sex couples holding hands, which is not all that unusual here, but is still nice to see. One of the kiosks was about HIV prevention. There was one guy wearing a head to toe black leather biker outfit, looking suspiciously like he was auditioning for the Village People. All of these visual clues together could mean only one thing- we had just stumbled into a Gay Pride event.

Specifically, this was Christopher Street Day, which is apparently Germany and Switzerland’s answer to Gay Pride Days. The Christopher Street Day event is held as an anniversary to the LGBT uprisings in the Stonewall Riots on June 28, 1969. The Stonewall Inn was on Christopher Street, hence the name. The event isn’t always held on the actual anniversary for organizational reasons, but it usually turns up in June.

This is a huge event in Berlin and Cologne, but the day is celebrated in major cities all over the country. Normally, there’s a parade but Regensburg didn’t have one this year. I had no idea that CSD was happening at all, or I probably would have tried to get a good seat for the live music. I’ll need to make a note on my calendar for next year- I love a good parade.

I didn’t get any pictures of the rainbow flags or the adorable hand-holding couples or even the black leather guy I mentioned earlier, because I didn’t know they’d be there. I did snap a picture of the band though, and one generic crowd photo, so I’ll include those here.