Last Saturday around 1 Million people came to the streets in Berlin to participate in the 40th Berlin Pride Parade. It was a big anniversary for Berlin and possibly also the biggest turnout in terms of people who came to walk or watch. But it was also a meaningful anniversary for the entire Pride movement worldwide. Exactly 50 years ago the Stonewall Riots took place in New York which started the entire LGBTQI movements and all the Pride Parades in the rest of the world in the years and decades that followed.
Even though the parade might seem like a big colorful and joyful street party that celebrated sexual liberty and hedonism there are still important messages sent out into the world with such events. We don’t even have to look very far: Hate crimes against LGBTQI people have gone up in Berlin in recent years. In many countries in the world, Pride Parades are suppressed by governments, such as in Russia, Turkey, and Poland. And most dramatically, many countries still criminalize homosexuality – in the worst cases even punish it by death.
So when we go to the streets in Berlin, we don’t just march for our own accomplishments in terms of LGBTQI rights, but also in solidarity for all those queer people in the world who are still fighting for acceptance and equality.
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by Frank | Events, Photos
photos: Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert
Continuing my story about our campaign for the Ehe für Alle organization together with SKYY Vodka I would like to present you today with the results of a photo shoot and interview we did with some of my dear colleagues from the world of blogs and Instagram. We designed a T-shirt that is calling for support from our straight friends and family members in our fight for marriage equality and other causes important to the LGBTQ community. We gave these shirts to a group of fellow bloggers and Instagrammers so they can spread our message to their fans and followers. We asked Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert to take some photos of them with the shirts. He’s one of our favorite Berlin photographers who we have featured multiple times here on iHeart over the years with his amazing analog portraits and who has empowered the LGBTQI community with his book Gender is a Spectrum. Today we want to share with you the beautiful results of our shoot.
We also asked all of them what their position is on the campaign, on the involvement of a brand like SKYY Vodka and what they think the next big steps should be now that marriage equality has been introduced. Their answers were so strong and beautiful that we want to share them with you as well. Thanks to everyone who participated, especially to the Ehe für Alle initiative and all the organizations that are part of it who fought hard for marriage equality to become a reality in Germany.
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by Frank | People, Stories
When I talk about the fact that I got married in Argentina last year one of the most likely questions I will get is why I didn’t get married here in Germany. The answer to that is quite simple: Because it wasn’t legally possible. It doesn’t matter if the person who asks me this is German or not they are always surprised by this. It’s incredible how many people are not aware that we don’t have marriage equality in Germany.
When SKYY Vodka approached me recently and asked me to participate in their “One Generation forward” campaign about diversity and equality it felt only natural to me to take a stand for marriage equality because I too have felt affected by discrimination of the law against same-sex couples, and several of my friends have too. So we teamed up with Sören from the organization Ehe für Alle who has been at the forefront in the fight for marriage equality and cooked up something together. And as life is always full of surprises everything took an unexpected turn about 2 weeks ago…
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by Frank | Stories
On Valentine’s Day it is all about marketing. And actually sometimes I have the feeling love itself is all about marketing. But for once I think some people are using the hype all over Valentine’s Day for marketing love itself. In a very poetic way two humans are confessing their love in front the whole world in this beautiful video which was released last week. Federico and Stefano are a couple for over 11 years now and they will finally marry on the today in New York. Not because they love this city so much, but because they can’t do it in the city they found, loved each other and live together: Torino in Italy.
But this video not only promotes gay marriage for its obvious causes. It shows that it can be so simple to touch everyone around you just by telling your story. And perhaps by telling stories people will start to listen. Listen to their heart and make laws with the heart, too. Watch this heartbreaking video after the jump.
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by Claudio | Stories
