Facing the difference – today Christopher Street day or Cologne Gay Parade 2010

I have got used to live in diverse society here in Cologne – plenty of multicultural people. But today I encountered another kind of Cologne’s beauty – its openess to different kind of diversity of society.

One of the biggest gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals pride of Europe took place today in Cologne city centre. However I was there about 40min, it was a benefit for me to be present not only to talk about it and make any judgments about equality treated legally and socially accepted with little understanding:)

All the week I was so excited about seeing the parade butt, I think, yesterday was too much football (..) so today I totally forget about the parade. When Marcus called me second time it was almost 15:00 (at this time I regret not to pick up his first call) but parade started at 12:00 Anyway, I was ready in 10min and we met on Zoobrueke. We saw a lot of the same sex couples during our way to the exact street so we thought that the parade is over but we caught it.

But not about that the story:D

It was interesting to observe behaviour of both – the participants and the audience. There were two kind of participants: the active ones and the passive ones, of course, we can separate them into those who were walking and those inside decorated lorries etc. Every team of couples had their own music and with dancing and expressing themselves they by car or on foot moved forward. I admire the imagination of common style and decorations. Of course, this was peaceful pride with only some accidents; due to using drugs or being in the sun too much some participants had to use emergency. The variety of clothes started from leather ware until almost naked sexy men and women.

Everybody emphasized their own identity: for example, what I did not like was to see naked bodies with injuries because of beating during the sex adventures or making pain just for pleasure. What I liked and where, I think, I noticed the PR elements during the pride: some participants used special clothing and special sex tools like the device for handcuffs, in my opinion, directly from erotic shops or producers.

The audience can be dividend into two parts: like me and Marcus just viewers and some activists who tried to attract the attention in different ways. There were no religious organizations, just peaceful people interested in (Cologne is one of the most open cities with its society to differences in the world).

“Christopher Street Day is celebrated on the 4th July every year in recognition to the gay rights. The events at the festival are followed by street processions, stage programs and solo performances of professional artists. The large parade is carried throughout the city and with over 1 million participants, the festival for the gay community is gaining momentum year by year!”