God’s love extends to queer people too

The ELM took part in the 2026 Christopher Street Day in Celle for the first time, alongside the Celle Church Circuit.

Together with the Celle Church Circuit, the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony (ELM) sent a clear message of diversity, tolerance and social cohesion at Christopher Street Day on 6 June. With a joint stand on Schlossplatz, they presented themselves as a church that is open to all people, ways of life and forms of love.

Under the slogan “From history. For the future. Our diversity is not a trend!”, Christopher Street Day paraded through Celle’s city centre – from the station to the castle, where the closing rally took place. Around 750 people celebrated a colourful festival for a diverse and tolerant society on Schlossplatz.

With this presence, ELM and the Church Circuit of Celle have made a clear commitment: God’s love extends to all people – including queer people. Diversity is not a contradiction to the Christian faith – it is an expression of it. Anyone who takes charity seriously cannot look away when people are marginalised or discriminated against because of their identity. ELM stands for a church that seeks encounter, not exclusion.

Numerous organisations, associations and initiatives used the stalls around Schlossplatz to provide information about their work and to offer a space for meeting and exchange. The Church was right at the heart of it – not as an institution watching from the sidelines, but as part of a community that stands up for one another.