On Tuesday, 21 May 2019 at 17:00, the exhibition "WALK WITH PRIDE" by Charles Meacham will open in the town hall of the municipality of Rüdersdorf. Afterwards, Karen-Susan Fessel will read from her novel "Liebe macht anders". The reading starts at 18:00. We cordially invite you to the town hall.
The "WALK WITH PRIDE" exhibition
Christopher Street Day parades take place all over the world every year. Participants commemorate the homosexual uprising against the New York police brutality of 1969, while at the same time campaigning for acceptance and legal equality. In many parts of the world, however, the demonstrators put their health and lives at risk. In 2010, international award-winning photographer Charles Meacham accompanied the parades and the often violent counter-marches in 15 countries. The pictures - WALK WITH PRIDE - show courageous people standing up for their rights at CSD parades in Eastern Europe and Asia.
The background
"After seeing the rainbow flag set on fire in Lithuania, confiscated in Belarus and torn down in Poland, I was annoyed to see this symbol of equality left crumpled up on the ground for about half an hour after the [London CSD] parade." - After attending numerous pride parades around the world, Charles Meacham had rediscovered his appreciation for the freedoms of homosexuals and transsexuals in Western countries, which many now take for granted. Recognising that in this country, too, the fight once began by a few activists under legal and social pressure. But whether in Moscow, Warsaw, Vilnius (Lithuania), Zagreb (Croatia) or Manila (Philippines): in many countries, this struggle began only recently, sometimes illegally as in Minsk (Belarus), beaten down under the eyes of the police (Moscow) or with arrests of the demonstrators (Warsaw). The demand for equal rights and protection against discrimination is still met with massive and deep-seated fears and prejudices in society. Resistance by religious and nationalist groups against peaceful demonstrators is usually extremely emotionally charged and only deterred from violence by enormous police forces. Much has now changed in some countries such as Poland, Israel and Turkey. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go and a lot of perseverance ahead of queer citizens who demand nothing more than the right to live and love in a self-determined way.
The exhibition
As part of the "Walk With Pride" project founded by him and his wife Sarah Baxter in 2009, Charles Meacham documented the struggle of gays, lesbians and transgender people around the world for basic human and minority rights as well as the often violent counter-protest of an intolerant majority society. In addition to impressions of three CSDs in the Far East and Australia, twelve in Eastern Europe and the Middle East form the focus of the series. The exhibition has been shown in many cities around the world, including Strasbourg, where it was opened in the European Parliament on International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) 2011. In eastern Germany, the series of pictures has so far been exhibited in the Brandenburg state parliament on the occasion of CSD Potsdam, in the "ver.di" headquarters as part of CSD Berlin and in the gay and lesbian meeting centre "SwiB" of the Thuringian AIDS service organisation in Erfurt on the occasion of its reopening.
The artist
Charles Meacham was born near Philadelphia/Pennsylvania in the USA and started travelling the world straight after school. At the age of thirty, he decided to document his experiences photographically. His work has since been honoured with over twenty international photography awards. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and reported daily on the "Occupy Wall Street" protests, during which he was also arrested. In 2009, he founded the "Walk With Pride" project, which accompanied the fight for gay rights.
The reading "Liebe macht anders"
The touching story of an intersexual teenager
Different doesn't just mean different, it is also different ... especially different ...
Anders is new to the class. He is good-looking, thoughtful, mysterious, a little shy, funny and very different from the other boys - at least the girls and especially Sanne think so.
Soon there is a spark between the two. Robert, the previously undisputed head of the class and Sanne's ex-boyfriend, doesn't like this at all. Robert sets out to see if he can find anything he can use to hurt Anders - and naturally searches the net. But at first he finds nothing. Nothing at all!
And when he does find something, things get really dangerous - and not just for Anders ...
The author
Karen-Susan Fessel, born in 1964 in Lübeck, grew up in Meppen/Ems. She studied theatre studies, German and Romance languages and literature and has been a writer and freelance journalist since 1994. Karen-Susan Fessel lives in Berlin. Numerous publications for children, young people and adults. More about the author at: www.karen-susan-fessel.de
The exhibition can be viewed from 21 May 2019 during town hall opening hours.