The twelfth largest city in Germany and capital of the federal state of Saxony is the seat of numerous political institutions of the federal state. The Dresden conurbation has a population of over , and is an important location for Germany. Dresden has an area of around hectares. As the second largest city in Saxony and home to numerous cultural institutions, the city is particularly popular with tourists.
In addition to the residents of Dresden, museums, exhibitions, baroque sights and cultural events attract a large number of tourists every year. Among them is also a not insignificant number of gay tourists who like to go out in the evening.
Especially the many sights, the cultural events and the many clubs make Dresden one of the most popular destinations for the gay community. Against a historical backdrop, the gay and lesbian scene is booming. Extravagant parties, fancy clothes and an open and tolerant community - these are the characteristics of Dresden's gay community. Scene off! But unfortunately that was not always the case. However, the GDR was initially more progressive than the Federal Republic with regard to homosexuals.
Prominent gays as well as political representatives demanded the abolition of the paragraph as early as the s. Thanks to this initiative, the Saxon parliament decided to abolish the paragraph in Unfortunately, this was not enforced and so Paragraph continued to exist in Dresden until During this time, gays were also persecuted in the GDR, but to a much lesser extent than in the Federal Republic.
After an uprising, the government was mainly concerned with securing its power. So the Paragraph was used above all to secure the balance of power and in the process to eliminate political opponents. The Gay The lesbian community in the whole of the GDR therefore declined immensely, and previously existing meeting places were almost non-existent in the s, even in Dresden. In the following years, unofficial meeting places were formed again, but they were nowhere near as numerous as they are today.
