Out and About in Hannover

This weekend marked Christopher Street Day in Hannover - a time for the queer community to come together, march around the centre of town to draw attention to their fight for their Human Rights, listen to musical performances and speeches from prominent community members, and, of course, socialise in the open while looking fabulous. 

There was a member of a Christian group providing free coffee for everyone, the opportunity to win prizes, lots of free stickers and pins courtesy of various organisations (ranging from the Social Democratic Party to the Leibniz University Queer Group to a Women’s Group [providing safe spaces for women fleeing domestic violence]). I talked to people providing support for gender diversity, as well as a group specifically for non-binary people. I was able to note that Hannover’s biggest local newspaper had a presence, but the stall was free of representatives at the time of my being there. 

I had several interesting conversations, one of which was with a person who worked for ‘Take Care’, an organisation which helps people in the aftermath of discrimination (physical or verbal). They said that they had travelled to South Korea for work, and when I asked how they found it, they felt that even though the country had worked so hard to rise economically and distinguish itself on the world stage, they had forgotten why they did it - they had neglected the finer points of what makes humans happy. (They were travelling to South Africa and Sweden next, a perk of the job.)

Sitting down to wait for the performers on the stage, I introduced myself to a cis gay man who lived in the wider region of Hannover. He had a rainbow flag on his cheek, and when I told him I was from Australia but would prefer to live in Germany, he replied that Australia would be his preference although he was yet to go there. A Greens voter, he expressed unhappiness at the popularity of Alternativ für Deutschland, and said that if the latter come to power he would be leaving Germany. 

I was invited to join the game of Quadball, modelled on Quiddich (or the game played in Harry Potter), and open to all genders and sexualities. A young cis man introduced the concept and let his cis woman colleague continue to explain how it worked - you could learn the rules through training sessions which were friendly and relaxed, and if you ran out if stamina, that was okay. The social aspect of the game was a big draw, and I found myself investigating what time the training sessions were…

And my visit wouldn’t have been complete without chatting up the cis women at the FrauenHaus (Women’s House) stand. They stood for an antiracist, antifascist feminism, providing crucial (yet independently funded) domestic violence shelter services. They told me about a feminist bookshop in the suburb of Linden, and how gathering the money themselves gave them a certain amount of freedom. It was nice to be amongst like-minded feminists. 

I should not forget that I chatted to a trade union group, the Queer Group of Leibniz University (who gave away a sophisticated rainbow-coloured pen after asking me if I knew the birthplace of Sappho), and some friendly queer women of colour who sold me a green hat with a rainbow heart on it. 

I felt like the city’s English-speaking population gave me some insight into what makes them tick, and I feel grateful for their hospitality.