Berlin, (EFE).- Hundreds of thousands of people gathered this Saturday in the German capital on the occasion of Christopher Street Day (LGBT+ Pride), officially inaugurated by the mayor-governor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, and the president of the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament, Bärbel Bas.
“We have to send a clear signal for a free, plural and diverse society,” Bas said, adding: “We have achieved a lot, but we still have a lot to do.”
The president of the Bundestag also called for unity in defense against the growing discrimination of ‘queer’ people.
For his part, the mayor-governor promised to advocate expanding article 3 of the Fundamental Law (on equality before the law), to make a reference to “sexual identity”.
According to this article, “no one may be harmed or favored because of their sex, their ancestry, their race, their language, their homeland and their origin, their beliefs and their religious or political conceptions.”
Eighty floats in a seven kilometer route
Almost eighty themed floats were scheduled to cover a 7.4-kilometre route through various districts of the capital and up to the Brandenburg Gate as part of this celebration in Berlin, one of the biggest festive and protest events for the LGTB+ community.
The program at the Brandenburg Gate to close Christopher Street Day includes a performance by the German band Tokio Hotel.
The organizers, who expected to gather up to half a million people, expressly highlighted the political nature of the demonstration, in which some 150 speeches were planned.