It is not the first city in Germany that wants to make queer couples more visible on the road: In Darmstadt there are now traffic lights with same-sex figures. “Vienna, Saarbrücken, Hanover, Cologne and others are already doing it: They are setting a sign for love and queer life at the traffic lights in their city. Darmstadt now too,” says a press release from the city. In addition to the city administration, the association “vielbunt” and representatives of the queer community in Darmstadt were involved in the implementation of the project.
The idea for the new traffic light symbols came from members of the organization team for Christopher Street Day in Darmstadt, who approached the head of the urban mobility department, Michael Kolmer, in 2022. Last Tuesday, the first “pedestrian light signals” with same-sex couples were actually released. The word “queer” stands comprehensively and without exclusion for “people who belong to a gender and/or sexual minority,” according to the city.
“Darmstadt is cosmopolitan and the ‘LSBT*IQ’ group is an important part of our city,” says Michael Kolmer. “We fly the flag on Christopher Street Day, International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia and the anniversary of the New York Stonewall Uprising.” In addition, the city has one of the first queer centers in Germany – in the Oetingervilla. Since autumn 2022, a memorial has also commemorated the victims of paragraph 175, which long criminalized homosexuality.
The new traffic light system with the cute traffic light men is on the corner of Alexanderstraße / Karolinenplatz / Cityring. As Kolmer reveals, the choice of this location was not difficult: “Christoper Street Day traditionally starts at Karolinenplatz and ends there.”
Sources: City of Darmstadt, “Queer.de”
