PRIDE IS STILL A PROTEST
The tragedy at Berlin's Christopher Street Day is a reminder that queer visibility, joy and resistance remain inseparable.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives
Berlin's Christopher Street Day should have been remembered for what Pride does best: bringing people together in celebration, solidarity and unapologetic visibility. Instead, it became a day marked by tragedy.
As hundreds of thousands gathered for one of Europe's largest LGBTQIA+ demonstrations, a vehicle drove into crowds near the event, leaving one person dead and many others injured. Behind every headline are lives forever changed, families grieving and a community once again forced to confront the reality that even our safest spaces can be shaken by violence. Our hearts are with every victim, every loved one and everyone in Berlin whose sense of safety was shattered.
Photo: Francisco Alvarado-Juárez via The Hispanic Society Museum
Christopher Street Day is more than the name of a parade. It takes its name from Christopher Street in New York City, home to the Stonewall Inn, where the 1969 Stonewall uprising became the catalyst for the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement.
Pride was born not from comfort, but from resistance. Not from acceptance, but from people refusing to disappear.
More than five decades later, that history still echoes through every Pride march. This weekend serves as a painful reminder that Pride is not simply a celebration. It remains a protest. Across Europe and beyond, LGBTQIA+ communities continue to face rising hostility, discrimination and violence. Rights won through decades of activism cannot be mistaken for permanent victories. Progress is real, but it is never guaranteed. Visibility should never come at the cost of safety. No one should have to choose between celebrating who they are and making it home safely.
Photo: Francisco Alvarado-Juárez via The Hispanic Society Museum
Yet despite fear, queer people continue to gather. We continue to create, to march, to love openly and to build communities where future generations can exist more freely than those before them. That is the legacy of Stonewall. That is the spirit of Christopher Street Day. And that is why Pride still matters.
At FLAW, we stand in solidarity with the victims, their families and the Berlin LGBTQIA+ community. Because queer joy is an act of resistance. Because community is our greatest strength. Because Pride has always been more than a parade.
Photo : Barbara Alper
Pride is remembrance. Pride is resilience. Pride is protest.
And we are not going anywhere.
