This weekend, everything in Berlin is about love. On July 22nd, the CSD takes place and many celebrate it with colorful flags, lots of glitter, creative outfits and loud music 🎉 But what is this colorful parade all about? The term CSD (Christopher Street Day) is mainly used in German. In other countries, people talk about Pride. The word Pride was chosen quite deliberately and means pride. It's about not being ashamed of yourself, your feelings, your sexuality and your identity, but being proud of it and showing it to the outside world.
Christopher Street, which gives the festival its name, is located in New York. In 1969, an uprising for the rights of homosexual people and against police brutality took place there. These are also called the Stonewall uprisings because it all began with the routine evictions of the gay bar “Stonewall Inn” by the police. The first CSD as a demonstration for gay rights took place 10 years later in 1979 in Berlin.
June is celebrated as Pride Month around the various CSD events. LGBTQIA+ communities around the world come together to celebrate diversity and freedom and to protest against discrimination. The Pride movement (also LGBTQIA+ Pride, Gay Pride or just Pride) has been campaigning for years for a proud approach to one's own sexual, queer identity. Everyone should be able to be who they are and not have to hide from others. It's about self-confidence, pride, tolerance and community. If you are a non-marginalized person taking part in these events, it is important not to just be there for the party! Take part in conversations and be aware of the true meaning of Pride.
❤️🧡💛 HAPPY CSD BERLIN 💚💙💜
In Germany, there are laws to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex and all queer people, e.g. the General Equal Treatment Act. These laws are intended to ensure that all people can freely live out their sexual identity and gender identity. Nevertheless, injustices still exist today and hostility and attacks on queer people occur. "Nevertheless, according to a study from 2020, over a third of queer people in Germany still suffer from discrimination at work, and for trans people the figure is as high as 43 percent. Hate crimes and hate speech are also on the rise again." In 2021, there was unfortunately an increase in registered crimes due to sexual orientation by around 50% to 870 crimes - and these are only the reported ones, the number of unreported cases is probably much higher. If this affects you or people in your area, there are some advice centers in Germany that are there for the LGBTQIA+ community:- Association for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, intersex and queer people
- GLADT eV
- Queer Refugees Germany
- Lesbian Counseling Berlin
- Gay Counseling Germany
Pride Month in the company
Many companies use Pride Month for campaigns to present themselves as tolerant and cosmopolitan. However, when this solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community is done solely for marketing reasons, it is referred to as pinkwashing (a variation of greenwashing, when companies launch image campaigns on the topic of sustainability without living up to it in practice). We at CARRY try to use our platform to educate people about various topics. In addition to sustainability and health issues such as breast cancer awareness , we also deal with the Pride movement, which also concerns us as private individuals in our everyday lives.
We live diversity in our everyday work, for example by using gender-neutral and discrimination-free language. We also attach great importance to an open working atmosphere in the team, where everyone feels comfortable and can be themselves. During Pride Month and CSD we deal with the topic in more detail, as there are also many events taking place, but for us every month is Pride!
❤️ Celebrate 🧡 Love 💛 today 💚 and 💙 everyday 💜
We are always particularly happy about individual print projects that focus on education and tolerance. Like these two examples here: In the photo on the right you can see the individual CARRY Bottle from Charité Berlin & Campus Sportswear. We love the colors and the message. You can also find the Charité bottle in their online shop . We are also particularly proud of the project with OI Glass. They gave away this great CARRY Bottle (pictured left) to customers during Pride Month. We love it!
At the CSD you will see some Pride flags again, but what exactly do the colors mean? The original version of the Pride flag was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 and is intended to represent the diversity in the LGBTQIA+ community. There are now newer versions of it. Among them is the Progress Pride flag, which shows a triangle of different colors on the left side.
Original Pride Flag 1
Pride flag from 1979
Progress Pride Flag
Each color has a meaning: pink stands for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, blue for harmony and purple for the soul. Pink was no longer included in 1979 because the color was no longer available. In the Progress Pride flag, white stands for non-binary people, pink and light blue for binary trans* people, brown for people of color and black for the victims of AIDS.
What does LGBTQIA+ stand for?
Inclusive language is the first step towards treating each other with respect. That's why we've explained abbreviations and terms that you might come across at the CSD.
Agender are people who do not identify exclusively as male or female.
Androsexual is the orientation in which people are attracted to women and femininity.
Asexual people feel little or no attraction to other people.
Bisexual is the sexual orientation of being attracted to more than one gender. The short form bi is often used here.
CIS Cis people identify with the gender assigned to them based on their innate physical characteristics.
Diverse is the 3rd gender entry that can be used when a person does not identify as male or female.
FLINTA* is the abbreviation for women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans and agender people.
Gynosexual is the orientation in which people are attracted to men and masculinity.
Heteronormative Here, heterosexuality is taken for granted and queer people are excluded.
Intersex people are people who were born with variations in their sexual characteristics. Their bodies do not conform to social norms of male and female.
LGBTQIA+ The abbreviation stands for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queers, intersex and asexual. The plus at the end stands for other identities. These include intersex, non-binary, pansexual, aromantic or two-spirit.
Non-binary is the umbrella term for gender identities that are neither male nor female.
Pansexual people are attracted to people of all genders.
Polyamory is an open love relationship in which one person consensually loves several partners.
Queer is a collective term for sexual orientations that are not heterosexual.
Transgender people do not identify with the gender assigned to them based on their innate physical characteristics.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 UNITED IN LOVE ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Now we wish you a nice CSD in Berlin and remember WHY we celebrate it! :)
