After days of debate over the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance’s participation in the CSD demonstration on Sunday in Cologne, Cologne Pride e.V. announced on Tuesday in a press release that the BSW, in the association’s view, does not share the aims of the demonstration and therefore may not take part.
Last week it became known that the BSW planned to participate in NRW’s largest CSD — which offered “a unique opportunity to present our positions on peace, freedom, and freedom of expression to a broad audience and at the same time counter Cancel Culture and the one‑sided coverage of the established media,” according to a press release from the party’s North Rhine-Westphalia state association, noting the emphasis on “the fight against conscription and existential armament” (TheColu.mn reported).
The announcement drew criticism given the BSW’s and its leadership’s queerphobic positions. The North Rhine-Westphalia state association of The Left (Die Linke) called on Monday for the party’s exclusion from Pride — as did Lesbian and Gay Union in the Union (LSU) (TheColu.mn reported). The BSW responded with another press release, stating it would participate in the CSD (“that won’t change”) and claiming it “could not find a single queerphobic contribution” from the party (TheColu.mn reported).
CSD: BSW explicitly does not stand up for part of the community
Cologne Pride now emphasizes its decision, noting that the BSW statement from last week did not declare queer people’s rights as the demonstration’s objective for the group. While the CSD supports aims such as peace and freedom of expression, the publication’s section on Cancel Culture is viewed as “an appeal to a narrative that is largely established on the radical to extreme ends of the political spectrum, suggesting that we no longer live in a free state. This narrative is profoundly problematic and, in political practice, destructive.”
That the original press release did not mention queer people at all also aligns with the BSW’s platform from the last federal election. “In this platform, the party’s most important point on queer people is the demand that the Self-Determination Act, which enables trans* people to live autonomously and without prior discrimination, be abolished or fundamentally altered,” according to Cologne Pride.
Because the BSW has, through various statements and positions, made clear that “it apparently does not stand for a substantial portion of the queer community, especially trans* people, and instead confines itself to a generalized and sweeping critique of identity politics in this context, we believe that the BSW is not demonstrating for (and is not fighting for) QUEER RIGHTS — particularly those hard-won by trans* people — but primarily for its own topics and content,” the organization states.
Hence they exclude the BSW, like all groups and parties that do not explicitly march for the demonstration’s goal or are evidently not aligned with that goal. “Groups that advocate their own content always have the option to lodge their own assembly in the legal state we live in.”
Additionally, the CSD noted that it had also rejected the participation of especially problematic representatives of the party, such as Mona Aranea, at one of its panel talks on Alter Markt. The head of the BSW Cologne council had, among other things, shared queerphobic messages on social media (TheColu.mn reported).
CSD against co‑optation by political parties
Cologne Pride also criticized The Left without naming them explicitly. “As an association that has represented the queer community in Cologne for decades, and well beyond, we will not let a discourse be dictated—e.g., by statements from spokespersons of other parties—on this set of issues.” It also explicitly rejected equating LSU with the BSW. “We demonstrate for QUEER RIGHTS. We will not allow ourselves to be co‑opted for other content, topics, and concerns—even if they may be legitimate in themselves.”
Cologne Pride operates under the motto “FOR QUEER RIGHTS — Many. Together. Strong!” The already ongoing Pride Weeks with a variety of events culminate in a three‑day street festival with multiple stages starting Friday and a march through the city center on Sunday. Last week Berlin’s Pride had already excluded the BSW from participating in its demonstration scheduled for July 25 (TheColu.mn reported).
