mothwing | CSD

So, I did go.
It was one gigantic party in central Hamburg. The weather was great, the mood the people were in and the costumes were, too. There were a lot of really interesting information desks belonging to various clubs and organisations, which was awesome. I never realised just how many support organisations there were, which is something I ought to know, especially as a future teacher. I took some of their info material just in case, and found to my delight that there were quite a number of support organisations for older lesbians, like the "Golden Girls", a group for lesbians in their fifties who meet once a week, and another about old age and lesbians. A brilliant idea, definitely - and one I had been wondering about. There are a fair number of support hotlines and info centres for children and teenagers, but it must be even harder to come to terms with your sexuality and resulting difficulties when you are aging - even though you have most likely learned to live with it.

I still did not buy a rainbow-colour flag, which I have been wanting to do for a while because I think they are really pretty, but I did find a little labrys pendant - not so much a statement as a pretty item of jewellery, though. The one I bought in Glasgow broke a while ago, and I have always been wanting a replacement.

Interestingly enough, while they did not take part in the parade, our ruling party deigned to put up an info stand as well. Well done, CDU, I would not have thought it possible.

People in front of Hamburg's Binnenalster, waiting for the parade. The Alsterhaus, the big shopping centre at the back, usually puts up flags for the occasion.
During the Third Reich a lot of employers were interred and killed in concentration camps, Jews as well as homosexuals, feminists, and other people who did not fit in.

Yay! We exist. "Lesbians stay visible". I am fully aware of the problem of lesbian invisibility, and still the term strikes me as odd - and it is a very good term.
It's just that the idea of grown women suddenly becoming paler, and paler, until you can suddenly see through them and they -pop!- fade into nothingness keeps appearing in my head. Silly. Well, no, scary, really.

The Schlagwerk (BDSM organisation) always has the coolest carts ever.

"Save your tolerance - accept us". Yes, yes, yes!

First cart and the title of this year's parade.

One of the more colourful guests.

Dancing for tolerance...

The music coming from these was really loud. I had to plug my ears with a paper tissue after a while because they started hurting, which earned me a lot of fairly bemused looks. Still, my ears being safe, it was much more fun watching the parade.

My inability and unwillingness to... sway with the music? Swing along? I can't think of an appropriate word for what Germans do when confronted with loud music with a clearly discernible rhythm - move with the music (it certainly ain't dancing) made me the target of a lot of people distributing flyers or spraying the crowd with water - which was great, as it was really, really hot.

"Abidance of the human rights in all EU member states". Er. I love the hair of the person next to the bearer of the poster.

You see the wood elf in the centre? I want hir boots.

Flags of the Schwusos, the LGBT organisation of the German social democrats. I am a big fan of the name.

"... and where is Ole?" - I don't seem to be the only one who noticed the absence of our mayor, Ole von Beust.

The guy in the shades looks like my driving teacher. Who to my knowledge is married and has a daughter. Huh.

Paraders having a good time...

GLBT and leather pride flags...

"Homo reform 2007: family is where children are". Ok, that was painfully literal.

Against homophobia in soccer. And a flower girl with the coolest hat EVER.

"Where are gays and lesbians in professional world-class sport?" - "Hamburg, be proud of your homosexual culture." I like the guy in the orange T-shirt, which says, "Play with me."

As great as it was, after half an hour of watching the parade after an hour of walking about, my feet started to hurt. What did other people think was apropriate foot wear?

Those heels look great, but I could never walk around in those for long. Kudos.

I really ended up having a good time in the end.

The mood these people were in was amazing, and most of the costumes were really fantastic. What made me happy was not, however, the costumes, or the music, or the gigantic party.

It was them:

Or them:

... and the way homosexual couples are the norm at events like that.
Not that being the norm is all that important to me, but being surrounded by female couples is kinda nice once in a while. There are many things which are strange about me, but being a lesbian is the least strange of these I always felt, and it was weird to see other people react to that of all things strongly.

The other side of the parade.

Oh, you can do slide shows on PhotoBucket now? Curious.

Huh. I didn't realise they had this feature. Nice, but I doubt I'll ever really use it.

Current Mood: relaxed

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

rizardofoz.livejournal.com

That flower girl shot is one of the most intriguing pictures. I keep going back to that one and just looking at it for some odd reason. It just really... I don't know... it pulls me.

From:

mothwing.livejournal.com

Glad you like it. I really liked those soccer players, they did not appear to be in costume, at all, they looked as though they were just innocent soccer players who happened to be there.

From:

moonystone.livejournal.com

Nice pics. I wanted to go, I do usually, but wasn't in the mood of going by myself.

That chess costume is amazing, and that flower hat, too. I must admit, half of the fun of the parade are the costumes. These wood elf boots? Lovely. Had I the legs (and the money) I'd wear those.

What's really nice at this kind of event is that non-involved people see that a)there are many GLBT people and b)most of them look just like everybody else. Because, imho, über visibility is an issue, too, as it produces certain fixed, stereotypical images of "the gay" and "the lesbian", while it's all diverse.

From:

mothwing.livejournal.com

Dang, if I'd decided earlier, we could have gone together! Ah, well. Next year.

You're absolutely right about the über-visibility and stereotyping! It's the same with butch lesbians - you'd never think that normal looking people are lesbians, and with certain kinds of lifestylers you're bound to notice - hence all lesbians are butch, because they're the ones you notice. And it's the same with flirty gay males - men notice someone's gay when they're hitting on them, hence everybody who's gay's constantly flirting. *rolls eyes*

From:

moonystone.livejournal.com

You were there by yourself? Next year sounds like a plan.

Yes, exactly! I find this notion so weird that people who aren't "normal" (as in not sticking to the norm) sexually have to look different as well.

I actually scared someone once by explaining that a group of bikers, all burly men with beards and muscles etc, were totally gay. It was some leather or bear party in Hamburg, so the inner city was full of them, butthey weren't seen as gay because they looked like "real men". I hate gender stereotpyes.

From:

mothwing.livejournal.com

*nods* I wonder when these dumbasses will finally get that genderqueer =/= homosexual. I had lots of fun explaining that over and over and over in our Männlichkeiten-seminar because the vast majority just. Don't. Get. It.