Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday in the western German city of Cologne for the annual Christopher Street Day (CSD) demonstration and celebration.

The parade, which is the culmination of two weeks of pride events, is among the largest LGBT+ events in Europe. Only Berlin's celebrations are of comparable size in Germany.

Goal 'not yet reached' in fight against homophobia

"We have already achieved a lot, but we have not yet reached our goal," Culture Minister Claudia Roth said in opening comments of the event.

She said that there was still a lot of work to be done in the fight for equal rights and against homophobia and discrimination.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach called for participants to take care of each other, to stay hydrated and take shelter in the shade.

Cologne is seeing hot and humid weather of up to 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) this Sunday, which prompted German weather service (DWD) to issue a heat warning for it and other cities.

What happens during CSD in Cologne?

Organizers said the CSD parade would be longer than ever, with some 60,000 participants following a 4.3-kilometer route (about 2.8 miles) through the city center.

ColognePride said it expected up to one-and-a-half million people to attend.

Some 220 groups were registered for the parade, which features music and floats, but others are also invited to walk the route.

The name Christopher Street refers to the location of the Stonewall Inn bar, a popular venue with New York's gay community, which police raided in 1969.

That police action prompted days of clashes with law enforcement and protest from gays, lesbians and transgender people complaining of intense discrimination against their communities.

That show of resistance is considered a landmark event for the gay rights movement — not only in the United States, but across the globe.

ColognePride's motto for this year's event is "For human rights. Many. Together. Strong."

Police say several hundred officers will be on duty to protect the event, with streets near the route of the procesison closed for much of the day.

A number of prominent German politicians, including Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, were set to address the crowd before the start of the parade.

Earlier this year, Lauterbach said Germany would amend its guidelines for donating blood, so the same rules apply to everyone regardless of their sexual orientation.

Rules restricting donations from gay men date back to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, when they were considered to have a higher likelihood of passing on the virus.

rc,sdi/nm,lo (dpa, AFP)

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