Information on the opening speech of the Berliner CSD e. V.

As you will no doubt have noticed from the press coverage, the Governing Mayor will not be giving the opening speech this year. Despite a meeting yesterday in the town hall, we were unable to reach an agreement on this. As Berlin CSD, we have made 6 core demands to the state government and Kai Wegner this year and have also demanded that an implementation plan and a strategy (especially for Article 3) are needed so that we can award the opening speech to the Governing Mayor. We have always coordinated our approach with the CSD Forum. The aim was to get our issues moving and to present ourselves confidently as a civil society.

From our point of view, the Governing Mayor was ultimately unable to credibly explain to us how he intends to bring about the success of a possible Bundesrat initiative to include queer people in the Basic Law and how we can make progress on other demands.

The Governing Mayor has also informed us that he no longer wishes to give the opening speech. In view of the situation, we think this is appropriate and, after consulting with the Forum, we also cannot imagine the Governing Mayor giving an opening speech under these circumstances.

Nevertheless, we would like to take this opportunity to state that the discussion took place in a very constructive atmosphere. We also agreed on further steps together. Although the Senate Chancellery wanted us to maintain confidentiality towards the press, the Senate Chancellery did release information to the press. In particular, the announcement that we had offered the Governing Mayor the opening speech in conversation is a misinterpretation. Basically, we were looking for an “overall compromise” and explored whether we could present the CSD Forum with a basis for a decision. We have not made an offer for the opening speech. Of course, the decision on the opening speech this year lies with the CSD Forum and the board. Nevertheless, we will adhere to the agreement with the Senate Chancellery and will not pass on any further information from the discussion to the press.

We have already been preparing a back-up plan for a week: Sophie Koch from the LAG Queeres Netzwerk Sachsen will give the opening speech this year. As an umbrella organization of many small queer associations, the LAG Queeres Netzwerk Sachsen represents the interests of the queer community in the eastern German state. Due to the situation in Saxony in particular, Sophie Koch will emphasize in her opening speech how important it is for queer people to be included in the constitution. We will of course also be inviting various politicians to the opening itself.

We would like to send you our messages for the community and the press:
– Unfortunately, the Berlin CSD did not come together in a joint discussion with Kai Wegner regarding the opening speech. There is a different view on the fulfillment and strategy regarding our demands.
– On the one hand, the Governing Mayor no longer wanted to give the opening speech, on the other hand, we were unable to present a credible implementation plan and a sensible strategy with regard to our demands, under which the requirements for an opening speech would have been fulfilled.
– We have agreed that we will remain in constructive contact and hold further talks after the CSD.
– We will continue to insist on our demands!

We would like to take this opportunity to point out that these are only the messages that we formulate on request. We are now focusing on communicating our demands and the CSD itself. We want to and will continue to work constructively with the Governing Mayor and the LSU in the interests of the community. We have opened many channels of communication in recent weeks, which we would like to maintain.

As the board, we will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the current situation this weekend at our stand at the gay and lesbian city festival at the following times:

Saturday, 13:00 to 14:00
Sunday, 16:30 to 17:30