Christopher Street Day (CSD) Berlin 2025

Nie wieder still!

I missed the Dyke March and SF Pride this year, for the very best of reasons, so I’m quite lucky that I needed to be in Berlin the week of CSD.

Wendy and I took in the parade from Nollendorfplatz, Berlin’s oldest gayborhood.

Two smiling women look at the camera. One has orange hair and is wearing a light yellow sundress, and one is in a black muscle-T with a lavender baseball cap on. — Ready for the parade to start.

A plaque on a concrete wall is triangle-shaped, and reads “TOTGESCHLAGEN TOTGESCHWIEGEN DEN HOMOSEXUELLEN OPFERN DES NATIONALSOZIALISMUS” in German. — the Pink Triangle memorial in Nollendorfplatz

The parade is long. Like, really really long. Hours and hours long. Party truck after party truck pumping dance music. Very much like what you imagine Pride in Berlin would be like.

A large mass of people crowd a street. Several are carrying various kinds of Pride flags. Behind them and some trees, an elevated rail station is visible. — Marching past Nollendorfplatz station

A large Pride flag hangs at an angle from a flag pole under some elevated train tracks. — These colors don’t run.

A cardboard sign is held aloft. It reads “I’m from TAIWAN. We have DIN TAI FUNG and SAME-SEX MARRIAGE!” — One of the day’s best signs.

A yellow bus drives toward the camera, among a large crowd. The bus’ overhead sign reads “Happy Pride und erhol dich bei uns im Bus!” — BVG really got into the spirit.

The nearby U-Bahn stations were shut as we left the parade, so we ended up walking to Gleisdreieck and had radlers at BRLO before taking some well-earned downtime at our respective hotels. Then we took the S-Bahn to Alexanderplatz, grabbed a quick bite at Ronin, and went to the FLINTA* party at Weekend Club. I’m glad I went clubbing in Berlin—checked that off the bucket list—but I’m especially glad I did so in community.

A bright pink neon sign reads “WEEKEND”. The photo is blurry, so the sign appears to come off the wall in an interesting, almost kinetic way. — I accidentally moved my phone while taking this and I don’t regret it one bit.

Boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats

A bunch of women are sitting around tables on a rooftop at night. Behind them, Berlin’s Fernsehturm is visible. — Weekend Club’s rooftop bar has a great view of the Fernsehturm.

Two women smile at the camera. The one on the left is wearing a black dress, and the one on the right is in a yellow one. — Cooling off after lots of dancing.