Protestant Church makes strong showing at Hamburg Pride Week 2026

The parade for Christopher Street Day (CSD) in Hamburg in 2019. Source: Markus Scholz/dpa

During Pride Week in Hamburg, the Protestant Church is showing a strong presence. "We will set a sign for human dignity, queer visibility, and a stance against discrimination," said the President of the North Church Regional Synod, Anja Fährmann.

Opening Service and Pride Prayer

The Protestant Church is present during Pride Week in Hamburg with a diverse program. At an opening service in the Holy Trinity Church in St. Georg-Borgfelde on Sunday at 6 p.m., Fährmann will set a sign for human dignity, queer visibility, and a stance against discrimination, the North Church announced on Friday. The ecumenical service is under the motto: "Solidarity queer. Taking a stand – for a future without fear!" Pride Week in Hamburg runs from Saturday to August 2.

In advance of the service, Fährmann praised the so-called Pride Prayer as an important place of church solidarity: "As a church, we stand by those whose dignity is being questioned." Queer people still experience exclusion and violence. "Our mission is to make visible: God is there for all people – without fear, without exception, without conditions." The Pride Prayer is jointly organized by:

• St. Georg Borgfelde parish
• The queer pastoral care "Positiv Leben und Lieben"
• The Catholic parish St. Ansgar
• The Metropolitan Community Church

Truck at Christopher Street Day

During Pride Week, the Protestant Church clearly takes a stand for diversity, human dignity, and social cohesion. Under the biblically inspired motto "Do not be afraid. Live freely and visibly," it will show its colors with its own truck at the demonstration for Hamburg's Christopher Street Day (CSD) on August 1, as the Hamburg church districts East and West/South Holstein previously announced.

In addition to the truck with around 140 people on board, a blessing tent will be set up in front of the main church St. Petri. Furthermore, on July 31 at 5 p.m., the CSD organ concert "Glitter and Be Gay" will take place at the main church St. Nikolai.

Closing Service and Reflection

The conclusion will be on August 2 at 11 a.m. with a CSD service titled "Taking the Power Away from Fear" at St. Pauli Church. Unlike the colorful and loud parade the day before, the service is intended to create space for reflection.

"The parade is still in our ears," said Pastor Sieghard Wilm. But afterward, everyday life begins again for many. It is precisely at this threshold that the service aims to strengthen people and give them the feeling that they are not alone.

Strengthening for Everyday Life

Wilm is currently experiencing in pastoral care that many queer people are unsettled again. "I have many conversations in which I am shocked that people are actually afraid – and increasingly afraid," he said. A gay couple told him they would rather get married now, out of concern that the social climate could change again. "We really have to speak our declaration of freedom very clearly," said Wilm.

Afterward, the parish, together with the Evangelical Foundation Alsterdorf, invites people to a neighborhood breakfast. Wilm therefore sees the service not only as a church contribution to CSD, but as a sign for an open society. Both loud voices on the street and quiet places of listening are needed.

epd