NSFW Munich pride 2025

[Jerome Marot]

The Munich gay pride takes place every year right under the windows of my flat, so I have no excuse not to go out and take some pictures. I did so last summer, but it took me a bit of time to post the pictures here. I'll explain why latter.

By their very nature, the pictures are not "safe for work" in all countries, although the parade is legal in Germany and opened to all.

The parade changed its name. It used to be called "Christopher street day" but is now called "Munich pride". It is also twice as big as it used to be 10 years ago and there are many more large corporations with a huge party truck advertising that they have LGBT persons in their staff. Although, less so than in 2024: "visit USA" had an official presence in 2024, not so this year after the change of president.

The web site of the parade is here: https://www.csdmuenchen.de/

 

[Jerome Marot]

The first picture is Frank (or Franka). I have seen Frank every year, he has been part of the parade for 31 years. He spends the major part of the year to design a new dress for the parade. Each year, the dress is different.

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You can read more about Frank here (in German, but there are translating systems): https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/von-hundemaske-bis-rosentraum-die-outfits-auf-dem-csd,UoTof1Q

 

[Jerome Marot]

Of course there are other participants presenting themselves in the parade.

 

[Jerome Marot]

The following are the sisters of perpetual indulgence. The street performance movement uses drag and religious imagery to satirize issues of sex, gender, and morality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_of_Perpetual_Indulgence

 

[Jerome Marot]

Not all participants come in drag, some simply enjoy the show.

 

[Jerome Marot]

I wrote in the first message that corporations come with huge party trucks. They also play very loud music.

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I hope that the view of the loudspeakers here give you some ideas about the sound level. Generators used can be several dozens kW...

 

[Jerome Marot]

Then, party music would not go without drinks. The quantities people drink are phenomenal (which worries me a bit) and the amount of litter enormous.

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The city of Munich sends an army of cleaners after the show.

 

[Jerome Marot]

Drinking in public is legal in Germany (as in all of the EU, I think). The police keeps an eye on the parade to make sure everything runs without trouble.

 

[Jerome Marot]

A large part of the parade is political. The catholic Church is often criticised, in view of their position against alternative sexualities and, here, of scandals implying several priests.

 

[Jerome Marot]

More political messages.

 

[Jerome Marot]

And then there is a huge party on the main square, in front of the town hall.

 

[Jerome Marot]

In the last images, you may have noticed that I masked faces which could be recognised. That is the reason why it took me some time to select and publish the images. I can publish a picture of Frank as Franka, because his face is already in the press. I can publish pictures of people wearing masks because they are not recognisable. But I feel that I cannot publish pictures of a crowd in an era when big data can automatically identify hundreds of faces in a publication and feed the output to surveillance software.