The message of the 2011 Christopher Street Day Festival (CSD) in Hamburg stands strong. With the slogan „ Trust yourself! Show yourself! Out is in,“ this year's CSD festivities are dedicated to the coming out of countless homo, bi, and transexual people. About 250,000 visitors are expected from the 5th to the 7th of August on the square in Jungfernstieg.

„Coming out not just a phase, rather a lifelong process “, said Lars Peters, head of Hamburg Pride e. V. „ Especially in public, a lot of homosexual, Bisexuals and transgendered people lose the courage to stand up for their sexual identity, with the same being possibly true for the workplace,school or a sports association. However, in many cases it is shown to be true that those who come out experience not only experience personal, individual improvents, but also an improvemnt in their surrounding enviroment. We find it our duty, to help these individuals find the courage and strength to show them that they are not alone with their fears and hardships.”

The 2011 Hamburger CSD motto is the result of a string of public Workshops that were held during the Hamburger Prdie in December.. About 30 representatives from the Hamburger Community drafted two possible motto suggestions in a hour-long discussion, one of them being „ Out is in “. „ The preliminary suggestion from the conference was for some not encompassing enough.“, said Peters. „Therefore, together with two experienced media experts, we decided to add more to the orignal draft. We felt that this would help people could connect with our message better emtionally and would be easier to use in the CSD advertising campaign. “ The 31st CSD will be introduced to the public in the beginning of the year.

For other inquiries please use our Press Information section. Further information to Hamburg Pride under www.csd-hamburg.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

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About Hamburg Pride:

Hamburg Pride e. V., founded in 2003, is a gay-lesbian association with its headquarters in Hamburg. The association organizes the annual Christopher Street Day (CSD) in Hamburg and is responsible for other on-goings in the gay-lesbian scene of Hamburg. With 196 members, Hamburg Pride is the biggest CSD association in Germany by far of Germany.

January 2010

(translating by Latané)