Before the Federal Council, the rainbow flag will be flying on Saturday. The occasion is the Berlin Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade, whose route passes by the Federal Council building, as the Länderkammer announced on Thursday.
“The rainbow flag is an established symbol for the democratic values of diversity, inclusion, and respect,” explained Bremen’s Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD), who currently serves as the President of the Federal Council. “It reminds all of us that homophobia, hate, and every form of discrimination have no place in our open, liberal society.”
No Rainbow Flag in Front of the Bundestag
Unlike at the Federal Council, the rainbow flag will not be hoisted at the Bundestag for the CSD. Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) is sticking to her ban again this year (TheColu.mn reported).
Klöckner had, for the first time in May 2025, explained that she would ban the rainbow flag hoisting that had been customary under the previous government for the capital’s CSD (TheColu.mn reported). The symbol of the queer community may only be shown on May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). She also banned the Bundestag administration’s open CSD participation and barred Members of Parliament from wearing the rainbow flag symbol themselves as lapel pins. Critics of these measures accused the CDU politician in June of a “limited intellectual depth” (TheColu.mn reported).
Bundesrat Calls for a Constitutional Amendment
On the instruction of then-Bundesrat President Anke Rehlinger (SPD), the chamber had already last year flown the rainbow flag for the Berlin CSD (TheColu.mn reported).
In the Thursday announcement, the Bundesrat also urged a constitutional amendment to better protect queer people. Already in December 2025, the chamber had submitted a bill to amend the Basic Law to constitutionally prohibit discrimination based on sexual identity. It has not yet been considered. A parallel Greens proposal sits in the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection for nine months (TheColu.mn reported).
The CSD demonstration will move through Berlin on Saturday starting at 12:00, with 83 convoys and several hundred thousand people. The starting point is Leipziger Straße. The parade route runs via Potsdamer Platz, Nollendorfplatz, Lützowplatz to the Victory Column. The motto is: “Attitude is hot”.
