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Home|Germany|Travel|Guide|German Culture|Gay & Lesbian Germany
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Baden Baden Berlin Cologne Dortmund Dusseldorf Frankfurt Freiburg Garmisch-Partenkirchen Gelsenkirchen Hamburg Hanover Heidelberg Kaiserslautern Leipzig Munich Nuremburg Regensburg Stuttgart Trier Tubingen
German Culture: Gay and Lesbian Germany
An overview I History of gay rights in Germany I Gay Germany today Gay Berlin I Gay Cologne I Gay Dortmund I Gay Frankfurt I Gay Gelsenkirchen I Gay Hamburg I Gay Hanover I Gay Kaiserlautern I Gay Leipzig I Gay Munich I Gay Nuremburg I Gay Stuttgart An overviewA generally laid-back attitude towards sex in Germany makes the country a naturally attractive place for gays and lesbians to feel at home in. Germany, where people can sunbathe nude in the middle of the capital city; Germany, where it's de rigueur for men of whatever sexuality to parade as fat pouting dames on carnival night. Germany, where prostitution is legal and the age of consent is 14.A place that can be this relaxed and funloving is unlikely to get overly puritan about how gay men and women get their pleasures. Gay couples holding hands and kissing in public generally fails to shock or, indeed, even attract special attention (except, it must be said, in certain parts of eastern Germany). It is renowned for its very out and flamboyant assertions of gay pride, particularly its huge Christopher Street Day celebrations in a number of German cities in June or July, the most famous ones being in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne. First, a little background... History of gay rights in GermanyLong, long before Western governments recognized gay rights as worthy of positive legislative action, late nineteenth century Germany was where the first revolutionary step towards the recognition and acceptance of homosexuality began. In 1897 the sex researcher Dr Magnus Hirschfeld (himself openly gay) founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich humanitäre Komitee). The Committee was made up mainly of gay professionals and its main aim was to fight 'Paragraph 175': an article of Prussian law imposed on a newly united Germany in 1871 by Wilhelm I that forbade sex between males. (Most constituent states of pre-unification Germany had liberal French-inspired laws that included no such strictures.) The Committee's work was supported by another pioneering researcher, Richard von Krafft-Ebing (who coined the term 'heterosexual'). While not gay himself, von Krafft-Ebing campaigned against the view of homosexuality as a disorder.Hirschfeld's principal theory was the positing of an intermediate 'third sex'. Although this has been overtaken by the modern view of bisexual potential in all humans, the theory laid the basis for scientific recognition of homosexuality as something other than a disorder, and thus forms one of the milestones of the modern world. Fast forward to ... Gay Germany todayOfficially, modern Germany has more than overcome the Sturm und Drang of the struggle Hirschfeld championed. East Germany decriminalized homosexual relations in 1968, and West Germany followed the next year. On to the 21st century, and Germany is now one of the world's gay
meccas. 2001 proved to be an annus mirabilis in gay German
history with: German gay city lifeBerlin is the undisputed prime camping ground for German gay life with its estimated gay/lesbian population of well over a quarter of a million. The gay scene here caters for all tastes, from as tame to as hard sex and off-the-wall as you like.-Schöneberg district - the Motz Straße-quarter around Noolendorfplatz - is traditionally where the night begins: 'traditionally' being reference, amongst other things, to the fact that it was home to the British novelist Christopher Isherwood whose Goodbye to Berlin inspired the film Caberet. - Kreuzberg district - Oranien Straße and Mehringdamm (check out the Schwulesmuseum, i.e. Gay Museum on Mehringdamm 61) -Prenzlauer Berg, especially around Gleim Straße and Greifenhagener Straße -Friedrichshain, along Muhlen Straße Christopher Street Day is Berlin's biggest gay
event attracting over 400,000 partiers, and happens at the end of
June - the same time as the World Cup matches in Berlin! There are numerous regular publications for gays and lesbians in
Berlin, most of which are available in gay bars and all of which
can be found at Berlin Tourist Information. Here
is a list of the main ones:
And for women to start with in Berlin: Gay and lesbian information centers in Berlin Cologne Gay/Lesbian information Dortmund Gay/Lesbian information Frankfurt Gay/Lesbian information Gelsenkirchen Gay/Lesbian information Essen, the largest city in the Ruhr, has: Bochum has its own gay 'Bermuda triangle'
of pubs, bars and restaurants. What makes the Bochum gay scene special
is the fact that the musical 'Starlight Express' is a nightly fixture
(and has been since 1988), meaning the number of guys out for fun
is boosted by those involved in the musical. Venues in Bochum where
you're likely to meet them: For parties in the Ruhr Valley (i.e. the cluster of towns that includes, besides Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Dortmund, Duisburg, Oberhausen, and Recklinghausen) as well as in Cologne, pick up a copy of Exit magazine at any gay venue. Hamburg gay/lesbian information A starter for gay Hamburg For more details of where to go and what to do check out: Gay information magazines in Hamburg Gay/Lesbian bookshops in Hamburg Hanover Gay/Lesbian information Kaiserslautern Gay/Lesbian information Leipzig Gay/Lesbian information Munich Gay/Lesbian information Nuremberg Gay/Lesbian information Stuttgart Gay/Lesbian information Baden Baden Berlin Cologne Dortmund Dusseldorf Frankfurt Freiburg Garmisch-Partenkirchen Gelsenkirchen Hamburg Hanover Heidelberg Kaiserslautern Leipzig Munich Nuremburg Regensburg Stuttgart Trier Tubingen
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