During Christopher Street Day (CSD) in Munich, which was celebrated by half a million people over the weekend, there were numerous attacks on people from the LGBTIQ* community. The specialist agency against discrimination and violence “Strong!” received eleven indications of anti-queer incidents during the CSD, but suspects that the number of unreported cases could have been significantly higher.
“It’s usually about insults and humiliation, making people look ridiculous,” says Bettina Glöggler, who heads the department together with Ben Dutschmann and Annina Eberhardt. There were also reports of bodily harm and property damage. One case was reported to the police.
A 19-year-old resident in Augsburg, a 17-year-old from the Augsburg district and a 21-year-old from Munich were affected. On Saturday evening, they were insulted and physically attacked by a woman on the subway platform at Munich Central Station. When a 24-year-old tried to help, one of the woman’s companions got involved and threatened the four men. The state protection of the Munich police is looking for the two suspects, who are said to be teenagers or young adults, because of insult, threat and attempted bodily harm.
In another case, in which drags felt threatened, those affected also called the police, reports the head of the department, but the officers did not want to intervene. Most of the attacks during the CSD came from adolescents or young men. There was also hatred and hate speech against queer people on social media. Because “Strong!” for trans rights, the specialist agency was defamed as misogynistic on Twitter, among other things.
“Whenever LGBTIQ* identify themselves, there is violence”
“We assume that far from all incidents were reported,” says Dutschmann. The number of unreported cases is high. Many are used to such attacks, others are ashamed to stand there as victims. “Yes, it was a beautiful and, on the whole, peaceful CSD. But as always, when LGBTIQ* identify themselves, there is violence,” Annina Eberhardt is quoted as saying in a press release. A queer action plan, such as that demanded for Bavaria at the CSD, is therefore still urgently needed.
During the past year, a total of 159 anti-queer incidents have been reported to the specialist agency. In 117 cases, those affected decided not to report the crime to the police. For their part, the police registered 45 cases of anti-queer hate crimes in 2022.