From the small neighborhood festival to the city-famous event: a conversation with the founder of the lesbian-gay city festival

From the small neighborhood festival to the city-famous event: a conversation with the founder of the lesbian-gay city festival

The Lesbian Gay Stadtfest at Nollendorfplatz in Berlin has already taken place for the 29th time and has developed from a small neighborhood festival into a large and inclusive event in the past few decades. Gerhard Hoffmann, one of the founders of the city festival, talks to the Berliner Zeitung about the development and importance of the festival.

The first city festival had the simple name "street festival" and should serve to better get to know the people in the Nollendorfkiez and to network with others. Hoffmann is still surprised that it has now become a festival with over 350,000 visitors. He remembers the wild sofa, especially on the stage, when only about a hundred spectators were present. In the meantime, thousands are pursuing his political talk show, in which he takes a closer look at politicians and celebrities.

The Nollendorfkiez has an important historical role for lesbians and gays. After fascism had destroyed everything in Germany, the gay life in Berlin developed slowly. Hoffmann emphasizes that by the end of the 1960s, Nazis even sat in the Bundestag and continued to try to make gay and lesbian people difficult to make life difficult. The Nollendorfkiez played an important role in this time, and even today there are still many restaurants for the LGBT+community.

The organization team of the city festival initially reflected the history of the neighborhood and was primarily shaped by gay organizers. In the meantime, however, one is working on compensating for gender distribution and also including trans women and men. However, the name of the festival is not reflected in the organization. The city festival is intended for everyone: lesbians, gays, binary and non -binary people are welcome and can be found at the information stands, in the program and among visitors from year to year.

The motto of this year's city festival is "equal rights for unequal - worldwide" as in previous years. This is intended to emphasize the inequalities between men and women, heterosexuals and homosexual people. Hoffmann emphasizes that the motto does not aim at a certain group, but applies universal.

In terms of the guests of his talk show "The Wild Sofa", Hoffmann is rather concerned. Topics such as transsexuality, democratization and dealing with hate crime are demanding and he has only a limited time for his explanations. Nevertheless, he is looking forward to the discussions with politicians such as Family Minister Lisa Paus, SPD general secretary Kevin Kühnert and the ruling mayor Kai Wegner.

When asked whether the AfD should get an information stand at the city festival, Hoffmann reacts in a negative effect. He does not describe the party as democratically and emphasizes that you shouldn't get enemies at the city festival. He wants to convince visitors to choose other parties. Other institutions or clubs are also decided by the organizer.

Hoffmann's relationship with Christopher Street Day (CSD) is distant. However, he emphasizes that the discussion of whether the CSD is a party or a demonstration is irrelevant. For him it is okay that the participants of the CSD dance on a car once a year and consider it a festive day.

Finally, Hoffmann would like social interaction like the Stockholmer CSD, in which people from various professional groups and religions take part, also in uniforms. He emphasizes his willingness to organize the city festival as long as possible and is looking forward to the upcoming event.