CSD in Pirna: Young people are afraid of coming out – because of AfD

The man who could bring thousands of people to Pirna in Saxony on Saturday only appears for a brief moment the day before. With hasty steps, Tim Lochner, the sleeves of his light blue shirt rolled up, runs out of the gate of his town hall into an administrative building opposite. He barely glances at the stage builders hammering metal or the volunteers lugging boxes.

What does Germany’s first AfD-nominated mayor think of the queer street festival, Christopher Street Day (CSD), which is scheduled to take place around his town hall on Saturday? “No comment,” says Lochner. He has already disappeared behind a glass door.

Lochner had already spoken in detail about the street festival, where people demonstrate for the equality of sexual minorities. The Marienkirche in Pirna had just agreed to raise a rainbow flag from the church tower on the occasion of the CSD. Because the new mayor does not want to hang it in front of the town hall as in previous years.

In a late-night post on Facebook, Lochner wrote: “If we do some in-depth research, we will find evidence that flags with crosses and hooks were also hanging on St. Mary’s Church.” Is the rainbow flag the successor to the swastika? “It was a state church, it is a state church,” Lochner continued.

The mayor later deleted the post. But by then it had already been circulating on the Internet. Celebrities such as Hape Kerkeling called for people to attend the event in Pirna, and the Federal Government’s queer commissioner plans to come in person. A drag queen from Cologne is planning to travel to the city of 40,000 inhabitants in a well-filled coach, and buses have also been registered from Berlin.

Up to 20,000 people expected in Pirna

The busiest man in town this Friday is Christian Hesse, chairman of the Pirna CSD association. Hesse has to coordinate the construction of the CSD: the stage wall should go here, you can put the umbrellas there, the cable has to go here. And even Hesse doesn’t know how many people he is having all this set up for. Last year, 200 people came to the Pirna CSD. This year, the association has set itself the goal of bringing 20,000 to Pirna. Not completely unrealistic, thanks to the mayor.

Such a number of participants would have a symbolic effect. Because those who come to the market square on Saturday are not just doing it for a good party, but also to send a message against the AfD. In the local elections last month, the right-wing extremist party won a third of all seats in the Pirna city council. What will be just as important on Saturday as the number of participants is whether all these people can celebrate safely in Pirna.

Last year there was at least one attempt at intimidation, reports Zoe Hetmeier from the queer association “Gerede”. She had travelled with a group from Dresden at the time. “Young people had already positioned themselves opposite the train station and immediately after we arrived they gave us the Hitler salute,” she says. They then followed her group for a while before disappearing into the alleys of the old town.

Neither the CSD association nor the police are aware of this incident, but it is consistent with the experiences of other queer demonstrations in Saxony. Participants in both Zittau and Wurzen reported similar threatening gestures from right-wing youth groups. In nearby Dresden, right-wing extremists from the “Elblandrevolte” organization, who were allegedly also involved in the attack on MEP Matthias Ecke (SPD), attempted to disrupt the CSD in May.

Incidents like these are the reason why CSD organizer Hesse is placing particular emphasis on security precautions this year. He is having a fence erected around the market square and bags will be checked at the entrances. The police also plan to have significantly more officers on site than in previous years.

Pastor in Pirna received death threat

There was another incident in Pirna, a death threat that shows that it is not just those who belong to a sexual minority who are in the crosshairs of hate, but also those who show solidarity. In May, the pastor of St. Mary’s Church took part in a small rally to mark the day against homophobia. Later, someone posted a picture of him at the rally and the sentence: “For the pastor, only nine millimeters.” The diameter of a pistol cartridge. State security is now investigating a 65-year-old for threatening him.

Church director Brigitte Lammert talks about the incident so calmly that one might assume that she is somewhat composed. “That’s not the case,” she says. She can talk about it so dryly because she has had to deal with the polarization of the city every day since Lochner took office. “Immediately after his election, Mr. Lochner declared the church to be his enemy. He mentions us in the same sentence as Antifa.” The fronts in Pirna have thus been clarified.

Since Monday, the rainbow flag has been hanging on the mast of the church tower. When the wind blows it to the side, you can see it from the window of the small rectory. There you can also ask Brigitte Lammert: Should the church actually take a political stance? She doesn’t have to think long about the answer: “Yes.”

Lammert has two reasons for this, one from the Bible, one from her life. Firstly, the church has always been political, after all, Jesus himself cared for the marginalized. Secondly, she grew up in the East German church of the 1980s, one of the most important places of civil resistance against the GDR regime. When the pastor was denounced online in May for his support of queer people, it brought back old memories for her. “It brought back memories of what we as a church community experienced with the Stasi back then.”

“In the Bible there are only Adam and Eve”

Brigitte Lammert has just disappeared into the street behind the church with her rainbow-colored umbrella over her arm when the waving flag catches the attention of two girls. Pearl necklaces, handbags, long eyelashes. “Oh shit!” one of them exclaims, pulls out her cell phone and takes a photo. “That’s really exaggerated,” her friend agrees. What bothers her so much about the flag?

“Well, in the Bible there are only Adam and Eve, so why is something like that hanging in a church?” says the 16-year-old and shakes her head. “I really have nothing against something like that, but it doesn’t have to be presented like that.”

Sentences like this are often heard in Pirna. But even Pirna residents who want to take part in the street festival on Saturday are worried: If 20,000 people actually come to Pirna, will the small town be able to cope with it? Ralf Wätzig, SPD city councillor and declared supporter of the CSD, says: There are many people in Pirna who don’t go to the street festival themselves, but who don’t have anything against the event. “If there are too many people here, too loud, then it might turn into rejection,” he fears.

One of the girls in the market square finally says: “We also have a classmate who changed his gender. That was never a problem for us.”

Young people in Pirna are afraid of coming out

If only it were always that easy. Zoe Hetmeier from the Dresden association knows the other side. She advises young people in Pirna who are currently undergoing gender reassignment. But many of them would not dare to talk about it with classmates or family for fear of being excluded. “Those affected can put two and two together,” says Hetmeier. “If many Pirna residents vote for a party that is hostile to queers, many of them probably have something against queer people themselves.”

Some of those affected even have relatives who share discriminatory AfD posts on social media. And teachers who say: “We don’t have any queer young people here.” Many of those affected therefore feel invisible.

CSD chairman Hesse believes that no one needs to hide at the CSD on Saturday. He does not expect any right-wing disturbances or hostility. Church director Lammert has nevertheless already announced that the door of her church will be open to all CSD participants. Just in case.