Colorful, loud, funny and sometimes shrill, thousands of mostly young people presented themselves on Saturday afternoon on the Wiesbaden market square in front of the town hall and demonstrated for the rights of lesbians, gays and transsexual people.

"Queer rights are human rights," speakers chanted, and the crowd cheered.

The organizers had expected around 3,000 participants in Christopher Street Day (CSD), but many more people came.

They stood tightly packed in front of the town hall steps, on which a huge rainbow flag was spread out, and made it clear: "We will not let our rights be taken away from us anymore."

The CSD is organized in many countries against the exclusion and discrimination of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

It goes back to the first anti-police protest by gay people on Christopher Street in New York.

The corona pandemic meant that the CSD 2020 in the state capital was canceled and was only possible with restrictions last year.

Now the event, which is one of the first in Germany this season, could be celebrated again as in previous years.

The CSD is organized by the association Warmes Wiesbaden and the Kulturzentrum Schlachthof.

The summer party and the big anniversary party later took place there, because Wiesbaden gays and lesbians have been celebrating their Christopher Street Day in the state capital for ten years now.

The participants for the demonstration procession had met at Warmen Damm and it quickly became clear that the CSD was able to record a record participation this year.

The participants came from the entire Rhine-Main area.

Loudly made-up drag queens, fetish pendants in vinyl and leather and many colorfully dressed people caused a stir.

Rainbow flags were worn as capes, skirts or even as flags.

"That's great," Stefan said happily.

The 33-year-old from Frankfurt is a member of the Frankfurt Leather Club, the fetish club in the Rhine-Main area, as he said in an interview.

"We've come a long way, but we're still not where we want to be," he said, emphasizing the need to continue fighting for the rights of sexual minorities.

Two young men wearing dog masks and collars saw it that way.

Pupplay is the name of this type of fetish, with the help of which people want to be dogs.

"You don't have to live it out sexually," Sebastian from Mannheim explained his fetish, even though it's an erotic role-playing game.

The man from Mannheim and his friend, who is also called Sebastian, will also be taking part in the upcoming Christopher Street Days in Frankfurt and Mannheim, as they said.

“Attacks happen every day, as you can read on the news.

For that reason alone, such events are important,” he clarified.

This is the opinion of many of the participants.

"Stop Homophobia" was read on a sign and a large banner from R+V Versicherung said: "For a colorful community: Diversity makes us strong." Carrying signs saying "Proud to be pride".

Look at Ukraine and Russia

Led by several drag queens, the demonstration marched through the city center via Wilhelmstrasse.

"It's not about celebrating for us," said Kai Kuckein from the CSD project management, but somehow nothing worked without celebrating.

With the song "YMCA" by the Village People, large parts of the train danced, which became longer and longer.

The participants were obviously in a good mood.

"Favourite position equality" is the slogan on a poster of the Greens, who also marched along with the Schwusos of the SPD.

The speeches on the market square were no longer quite as relaxed.

Warmes Wiesbaden's Manuel Wüst warned that queer people in Ukraine could be tortured, abducted and killed by Russian army soldiers, as had happened in Chechnya.

To loud cheers from the demonstrators, he demanded that the rights of gays, lesbians and transgender people be included in the Basic Law.

However, the undifferentiated criticism of a speaker towards the police, which in her opinion was not wanted at the event, met with a mixed response.

She accused the police of chasing down and beating up gay men and transgender people.

Some of the participants then went to the police officers present and expressed their solidarity with the police.

"Don't take what she just said to heart," a young man told a police officer.

Against general police scolding

The head of the Wiesbaden city council, Gerhard Obermayr (CDU), also criticized the statements.

"A general police scolding hurts me," he said, urging those present to get involved politically to enforce their rights.

He quoted the Basic Law, according to which human dignity is inviolable.

After the rally, the demonstration marched in the direction of the Kulturpark.

For the night owl party in the slaughterhouse, 1000 tickets had already been ordered in advance, as co-organizer Kuckein further announced.

There should be dancing and partying late into the night on different floors with several disc jockeys.