© Brigitte Dummer CSD am Breitscheidplatz

Boys, Girls & Toys 

Germany’s gay-lesbian capital is Berlin! Which metropolis boasts such unique variety in bars, pubs, clubs and parties? Highlights to be marked in your calendar are naturally the celebration of gay pride – in Germany called CSD (Christopher Street Day) – and Pride Week with numerous events like the big street fair in the neighbourhood around Motzstraße in Schöneberg. In 2012 the Berlin CSD will take place for the 34th time. Its birth was a small demonstration with a few hundred participants in 1979. In the last few decades it grew to become a spectacular parade of hundreds of thousands.

Together with guests from home and abroad, the community shows self confidence, also concerning political issues which are the reason for this demonstration. Leading up to the parade are various events like the Swing dance Gay Night at the Zoo or the CSD on the Spree (Berlin river). Apart from mainstream CSD there is the transgeniale CSD held in Kreuzberg which is less commercial.

Meanwhile the regular Fetish-Specials have become standard entertainment. For many years now the Berlin Leder and Fetisch Meeting has become a classic at Easter, culminating in the German Mr Leather contest. In September  leather and fetish lovers meet at Folsom Europe in Berlin, the “little brother” of the famous San Francisco event, right in the middle of Schöneberg’s residential area. The Hustlaball in October celebrates the best sex workers in the world with shows on stage and prizes to be had.    

2012 – dates upcoming!

• Easter leather and fetish meeting, www.blf.de
• Lesbian and gay street-fair, www.regenbogenfonds.de
• Gay Night at the Zoo, www.gay-night-at-the-zoo.de
• CSD on the Spree, www.prideweek-berlin.de
• Berlin gay pride, www.csd-berlin.de
• Transgenialer CSD, Kreuzberg, www.transgenialercsd.de
• 2011: 11th of September, Folsom Europe,  www.folsomeurope.com
• 2011: 21st of Oktober, Hustlaball Berlin,  5-days party weekend, www.hustlaball.de