Wildeshausen fights: Children's shooting festival should be for all children!

Wildeshausen fights: Children's shooting festival should be for all children!

in Wildeshausen, a small town in the Oldenburg district, gathered around 300 people on June 13, 2025 to demonstrate for a topic that moves many: the participation of girls in the traditional children's shooter festival. Under the motto "Children's Rifle Festival for All", the participants protested for opening the rifle festivals, who previously only allow boys aged 10 to 14 years to participate in children's shooting with the crossbow. The initiative "Guild for everyone", which was launched in 2024, had called for this call.

The reason for the demonstration lies in the strict regulation of the Wildeshauser Schützengilde, which excludes women and girls from the shooting festival. This should change, and many, including Hendrik Boldt, a member of the guild and co -initiator of the initiative, emphasize that traditions should never lead to exclusion. "Wildeshausen has shown today that the children's rifle festival can only have a future if all children can participate equally," said a spokesman for the initiative.

call for equality

Despite the peaceful mood, the atmosphere was partially tense, since the rifle guild had recently made a coordination to change its statutes - but without success. The proposal that should enable girls to participate was majority at the General Assembly in February. This means that the children's rifle festival, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, is still open to boys for crossbow shooting. Since the organizers originally expected up to 500 participants, the actually achieved number of 300 showed that the topic moved many in the community.

The developments in Wildeshausen form an interesting context of ongoing discussions about equality and participation at the broader level. In Germany, June is not only the month of the Children's Rifle Festival, but also the Pride Month, in which LGBTI communities are fighting for their rights and against discrimination worldwide. These parallels show that the discussion about inclusion and equality is not a local phenomenon, but is deeply anchored in society.

The concerns of the demonstrators reflect the desire for a society in which everyone has the opportunity to actively participate, regardless of gender or origin. While the LGBTI movement, which originated in the early 20th century, is still struggling for equality and acceptance, the endeavor to include younger generations in this dialogue remains of great importance. Initiatives such as "Guild for All" make a decisive contribution to promoting this change.

How it goes on remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that the voices from Wildeshausen must not remain unheard. The future of tradition could decisively depend on whether all children get the same opportunities to take part in social life. If that's not good news, what then? Perhaps Wildeshausen could be a good example of other communities in Germany and beyond.

For more information on the ongoing discussions and the LGBTI movement in Germany, we recommend a look at the reporting of Deutschland-protest-fuer-lgbti-rechte-pride-und-christopher-street-day"> Amnesty Germany.