DPA
The lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag, has for the first time raised the rainbow flag, which with its six coloured stripes is considered a symbol of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and stands for tolerance.
Since Saturday morning, one such flag has been flying on the south-west tower of the Reichstag building in Berlin, the seat of the German parliament. Two more have been raised in front of the east and west portals of the building.
The occasion is the major demonstration planned for noon (1000 GMT) in Berlin for the city’s LGBTQ+ Pride festival, known locally as Christopher Street Day (CSD), for which the organizers expect hundreds of thousands of participants.
It was only in April that the Ministry of the Interior officially granted permission for the rainbow flag to be hoisted in front of or on federal official buildings on certain occasions.
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas announced the flag-raising at the Reichstag building in June and explained that this would once again significantly increase the visibility of the commitment to diversity.
The event is named after Christopher Street in New York, the site of the 1969 riots that launched the gay rights movement.
