Vienna's Rainbow Parade Celebrates 30th Anniversary on the Ring

Retrospective: From New York to Vienna

Looking back, Austrian historian Andreas Brunner, scientific director of the Center for Queer Culture and History Qwien, recalls the New York Stonewall 25 Parade of 1994, which provided the impetus for his own involvement. "800.000 queere Menschen auf einem Haufen. Das war natürlich wahnsinnig beeindruckend," said Brunner about the major event in New York. A year later, in 1995, he took part in New York Pride together with his colleague Hannes Sulzenbacher. These experiences culminated in the planning for the first Rainbow Parade in Vienna, during whose preparation the founders, according to Brunner, still debated whether the Ringstraße as a venue was not too large and whether anyone would come at all.

Co-founder Christian Michelides, who helped bring the Rainbow Parade in Vienna into being, declared at the time with determination that he would carry out the event alone if necessary: "Und wenn ich allein mit meinem Hund Bobi über den Ring marschieren muss, ich meld' sie an." In recent years, according to the organizers, the parade has regularly counted up to 300,000 participants.

Voices and Program at Rathausplatz

At Rathausplatz, the Pride Village with speeches and performances began in the evening at 6:45 p.m. Among the artists performing at the Pride Celebration are Eurovision Song Contest winners Conchita Wurst and JJ. Kacerovsky-Strobl described the message of the event with a view to society: She wanted to show that it "die Vielfältigkeit nicht als Bedrohung, sondern als die größte Stärke sieht".

FPÖ Criticism of Wiener Linien

Political support came, among others, from the SPÖ's LGBTIQ spokesperson in the Vienna City Council, Susanne Haase, who is a member of the Vienna Landtag. Haase highlighted Vienna's queer achievements: "Wien hat in den vergangenen Jahren wichtige queere Errungenschaften abgesichert und weiterentwickelt: von der Wiener Antidiskriminierungsstelle für LGBTIQ-Angelegenheiten über Beratungs- und Unterstützungsangebote für die Community, queere Jugendarbeit, Angebote für Regenbogenfamilien und Bildungsarbeit bis hin zur Sichtbarmachung queerer Geschichte und Kulturangebote." Through this, Vienna has become "eine Regenbogenhauptstadt."

The FPÖ criticized the parade, taking aim at public transportation. FPÖ mobility spokesperson Klemens Resch accused Wiener Linien of having the time and money for "Transgender-Propaganda" "während die Wiener täglich mit Verspätungen, Störungen und im Sommer oft unerträglich heißen Garnituren konfrontiert sind". It was "besonders unverständlich, dass für derartige Social-Media-Aktionen offenbar Ressourcen vorhanden sind, während zentrale Verbesserungen für die Fahrgäste weiter auf sich warten lassen," Resch continued.

At 3:00 p.m., the march paused for a moment of remembrance to honor those people who can no longer take part in the celebrations. To this day, the Rainbow Parade sees itself as both a celebration and a protest for equal rights and against the discrimination of queer people.

With the anniversary motto "Visible since 1996," the event ties back to its beginnings while also looking back on a varied history that was significantly shaped in Vienna by Brunner, Michelides, and other activists. The demonstration march thus remains what it has been for 30 years: a visible expression of a community that demands equal rights and celebrates its visibility.