Queelture

During the weeks around June 28th, the main cities in the world celebrate their acts for the LGBT Pride, best known as the "Gay Pride". For instance, last weekend London, Madrid, New York and Cologne did it. I was in Cologne, of course, along with over half million people in the city. Other cities that celebrate it around these dates although not exactly that very same weekend are Milan, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, San Francisco... But the main ones usually do it on the first weekend after June 28th, which is actually the real Gay Pride Day, that one which all of us have highlighted on the calendar, some in passion-red, others in black-leather, others in rainbow colours and others in glittering-pink. The smaller cities celebrate it on other days spread throughout the whole summer. For instance, it will be on the last weekend of July in Frankfurt this year and in Manchester it is always on the last weekend of August.

In Germany they call these days CSD, which stands for Christopher Street Day. Neither the name nor the date are by chance. The name refers to the Stonewall Inn, a bar in New York which is located in Christopher street. The Stonewall Inn was (and still is) a meeting point for homosexuals and transsexuals. In 1969 it was a bar run by the Mafia where they served really bad alcohol (clandestinely). It was a dive, a place where the clientele was not important and so everyone was welcome. On that night of the 28th of June in 1969 there was another of the usual police raids. However, the response from those present was very different. Instead of hanging their heads in shame and let the police to handcuff them, they offered resistance and fought. They were really pissed off and the accumulated fury exploded. This time there were protests, mockery on the officers, stones fell from the sky and the travesties came into purse-blows with the policemen. It sounds like a comic scene and it was not the first time that something like that happened, but the massive reaction that the raid unleashed represented a before and an after... for the world. It was the fear loss and it was immediately followed in later years in other cities on both shores of the Atlantic. What we commemorate every June 28th are the Stonewall Inn riots.

Fortunately, in the western society of the XXIst century, homophobia is frowned upon as being more socially unacceptable than homosexuality. And nowadays, one can be proud of saying that he is no more no less than another Stone "Inn" the Wall.