A week full of positive impressions but also a lot of work for all of us is now over. This year we have participated in the pride to an extent not seen in a long time.
At the opening ceremony on Sunday we kept a low profile and just mingled with the audience.
Things really got going on Monday with the “most boring event of the pride”, which was a discussion round about queer volunteerism. We were joined by the Aidshilfe Dresden, the CSD Dresden, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and a local volunteer platform. Among other things, the discussion dealt with questions such as:
- What motivates you to volunteer?
- What challenges have you faced in the past 2 years and how have you dealt with them?
- Through what channels can new members and contributors be recruited to volunteer?
The exchange with the other associations was really very exciting. For us, however, the realization also remains that you have to be a non-profit association for some of the offers – a situation with which we have also had to struggle again and again in recent months.
We continued on Tuesday with the BoysTV Open Air Special for the pride. We like to be Gussi’s guests and discuss and drink with him – and this time was no exception. There were super many exciting guests with us.
The next highlight should not be long in coming. On Wednesday Dan Apus Monoceros was our guest and held a bondage workshop together with us. Nine bondage-interested couples were present and could learn something about which knots there are, when they are used and how to make sure that the whole thing is fun until the end and not one comes because of missing blood supply in the hospital. All under the motto: Play safe and sane. After all these basics, everyone could then let their imagination run wild and tie their partner.
We were especially pleased that it was not a gay-only event, but also mixed-sex and also all-female couples were present.
After that it went on in our clubhouse BUNKER then immediately with an all gender party. Here, too, the theme of bondage was present. What was not possible in the tent because of the statics, was then possible thanks to our beams and so some guests could still participate in a hanging bondage.
All in all, a few very successful days and we are pleased about so much interest and appeal. But the pride was not over yet. The highlight should come on Saturday with the street festival and the pride demo. More about that in the next post.