Here’s a picture from our walk around Munich yesterday.
Yes, that’s a Gay Pride crosswalk — also available in Amsterdam and elsewhere in Europe.
Also all over Europe? Rainbows.
No, I don’t have any pictures to share. But: rainbow “zebra stripes” at the crosswalk in Antwerp. Rainbow flags everywhere you turn around in London, including government buildings (including, among others, the Canadian consulate flying the Canadian and a rainbow flag) and office buildings, and, when I went into the office one morning, the company was giving away rainbow lanyards for Pride Week. Same in Amsterdam, and I imagine elsewhere too.
At the same time — well, in Augsburg, as I described earlier, it was the end of the Ulrichswoche, or “St. Ulrich’s week,” a celebration of the patron saint of Augsburg. And Catholic (and Lutheran) traditions are still a part of the city, especially with the Christkindlmarkt at Christmastime, and continuing integration of religion into the schools, with end-of-school church services. True, there isn’t much church-going among Augsburgers themselves, but nonetheless, Christianity seems to still continue as a civil religion, as a part of a common heritage fostering connectedness along with other traditions.
In London? Well, I’m not sure what binds London together, actually, except for perhaps an ideology of Londonness, that is, a superiority to the rest of the country, and a quasi-religious pride, at least officially, in the diversity of the city — and Gay Pride celebrations seem to be the high point.
What’s more, when religious traditions, when heritage can’t be celebrated, not officially at least, due to the exclusionary nature of the those celebrations, Pride celebrations seem the natural replacement.
And, like any good State Religion, Gay Pride-ism becomes compulsory.
So what next? I don’t know.
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