Cologne celebrates Europe's biggest LGBT parade

Cologne Pride is the largest annual LGBT demonstration in Europe in which around 85 floats, and many groups on foot, take part. Participants demonstrate for social acceptance and equal rights for LGBT people.

Since 1991, the Gay Pride parade has been held in Cologne every year on the first weekend in July. It starts at the Deutz Suspension Bridge and then passes through the center of North Rhine-Westphalia's largest city.

Cologne Pride is more than just a parade; it is officially a demonstration in series of events that include concerts, parties and rallies. The British group Erasure is slated to play on Sunday night.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas officially opened the event in Cologne. His message was, "No more discrimination." It was not until 1994 that the German law that made homosexuality punishable - paragraph 175 - was abolished. In March, the Bundestag decided to nullify all court rulings based on paragraph 175 since 1945

Cologne Pride's motto this year is "Never again.". This year's parade commemorates the LGBT victims of National Socialism. Lesbians in concentration camps had to wear a black triangle badge and the men, a pink triangle badge.

This is clearly an occasion to celebrate the new "marriage for all" legislation passed by the Bundestag on June 30, 2017. Parade organizers, however, feel that more needs to be done. There are still no guidelines for same-sex parents, for example, the allocation of mother and father roles.

Many companies also sponsor a float at the parade, for example, the low-cost airline Eurowings. This way, businesses show that they stand for values such as tolerance – and can also advertise to an audience of about one million people. This Eurowings banner says "With us, you can get closer to the rainbow."

The parade commemorates the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969 when LGBT people protested against police assaults at Stonewall Inn, a bar on Christopher Street. In the 1960s there were often raids on places that were considered to be home to what was seen as offensive behavior at that time.