Bundestag administration canceled CSD participation: criticism of neutrality obligation!

Die Bundestagsverwaltung zieht ihre Teilnahme am Berliner Christopher Street Day 2023 zurück, um Neutralität zu wahren.
The Bundestag administration withdraws its participation in the Berlin Christopher Street Day in 2023 to protect neutrality. (Symbolbild/MW)

Bundestag administration canceled CSD participation: criticism of neutrality obligation!

Berlin, Deutschland - On June 16, 2025, a decision by the Bundestag administration causes excitement in the Queeren community. As the Main-Post , the queer rainbow network, which is part of the Bundestag administration (CSD) in Berlin. This decision was made on the instructions of the German Bundestag director in order to protect the administration's neutrality obligation.

A real excitement: The Berliner CSD e.V. had already announced that the rainbow network 2023 and 2024 would actively participate in the CSD. But the planned foot group had to be withdrawn at pressure from the administration. The reactions were not long in coming: The board of directors criticized the decision as a "active rejection of queer visibility" and emphasized the importance of defense of fundamental rights in times when queer people have to struggle.

neutrality obliged

The reason for the cancellation lies in the strict obligation to neutrality that applies to the Bundestag administration. According to rbb24 , the participation in political demonstrations and public meetings is prohibited from the employees, but they are free, outside of the service to participate. This brings the queer community into a delicate location. The message sounds like a wrong signal against the visibility of queer people.

The Bundestag president, Julia Klöckner, is asked to comment on this controversial decision. As early as May, the news arrived that Klöckner will only want to use the rainbow flag on the Reichstag building on the international day against homophobia (May 17). Previously, under her aegis the rainbow flag was first raised on the Bundestag in 2022. This development leads many to the question of the extent to which parliamentary support for Queere concerns is left behind.

pleasing a bit of history?

The Christopher Street Day has a long and eventful story that has its roots at the uprising of 1969 in the Stonewall Inn in New York. As the Federal Center for Political Education , one of the largest emancipation movements in the world began. A year later, in 1970, around 4,000 people in New York already demonstrated for their rights, which gave the starting shot for similar events in other cities, including Berlin.

The first CSD in Berlin took place in 1979 and attracted around 450 participants. The cheerful coexistence was spared from hostility and violence. It is all the more regrettable that in today's world, in which such events attract hundreds of thousands and are deeply anchored in social awareness, such a rejection comes. Critics of the commercialization of the CSD fear that the original concerns of the grass root movement will be lost.

The Berlin CSD will take place on July 26 this year, and it remains to be seen what the reactions will look like to cancel the rainbow network. In these times when the Queere Community has to fight right -wing extremist attacks, solidarity is more important than ever. The demand for political support could therefore not be more urgent.

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OrtBerlin, Deutschland
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