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
A 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...
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 ...
Officially, 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:
•the appointment in June of Klaus Wowereit
as openly gay mayor of Berlin (who coined the now famous phrase:
Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so, i.e. "I'm
gay, and it's just fine that way.")
•the legalization in August of gay marriage and some (but
still not all) of the associated legal rights for gay couples taken
for granted by straight couples.
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!
Berlin Lesbian and Gay City Festival - almost as big as Christopher Street Day and happening about a week before
it - also during the World Cup matches in Berlin.
Love Parade - Berlin's most famous party - and a very gay-friendly one - hopes to be back at the beginning of July 2006 after being cancelled in 2004 and 2005 for lack of funding. It is planned to coincide, of course, with the World Cup.
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:
Gay and Lesbian Berlin
-Siegessaule: a free magazine named after the city's famous Victory Column. A well respected force in the city's general
cultural life.
-Out In Berlin 2005/2006: published by Berlin Tourist
Information
-Queer in Berlin: a free lesbian and gay magazine
with a Berlin section
-Spartacus 2003/2004: international gay/lesbian travel guide.
Gay Berlin
-Sergej: free guide to Berlin for gay men.
-Berlin von hinten: gay guide to Berlin in both
German and English.
Lesbian Berlin
-L-Mag: a magazine for lesbians
-Lesbisches Berlin - Die Stadtbegleiterin: a city
guide for lesbians.
And for women to start with in Berlin:
-Begine Cafe Bistro Bar - for wimmin. Potsdamer
Straße 139, in Schöneberg
-Pour Elle - Berlin's longest running lesbian bar.
10, Kalckreuth Straße, in Schöneberg.
Gay and lesbian information centers in Berlin
-Mann-O-Meter: information and advice for gay men at Bulow Straße 106, Schöneberg. Phone +49(30)216 80
08
Lesbenberatung: lesbian advice and counseling at
Kulmer Straße 20, Schöneberg, Phone +49(30)217 27 53
Cologne Gay/Lesbian information
For what's on in Cologne's
gay scene check out our Cologne gay/lesbian guide.
Dortmund Gay/Lesbian information
Dortmund
is the second biggest city in the Ruhr (next after Essen)
and is famous for its six massive breweries. The city's gay scene
is covered in our city guide.
Frankfurt Gay/Lesbian information
(travelgay.com) - an easy-to-follow guide to Frankfurt's
gay scene.
Gelsenkirchen Gay/Lesbian information
Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr valley, being a small town mentioned in very few guidebooks,
has only two gay bars:
•Havanna, Ida Straße 15, Tel. (02 09)
49 81 53
•La Mirage (in the Fina-Parkhaus) Sellhorst
Straße 6, Tel. (02 09) 20 11 06
but they look and feel little different from when they were established back in the 1970s - 'No place to spend an evening!' says an informed local.
The preferred option is to go to nearby Essen and/or Bochum - both only 15 minutes away by
train.
Essen, the largest city in the Ruhr, has:
•Cafe Dax, Viehofer Straße 49a, Tel.
(02 01) 2 48 84 04: a large cafe-bar in Essen's city center where
the pedestrian district starts, with large windows, where you can sit and watch the world go by.
Right next door to Cafe Dax is
•Phoenix-Sauna,
Viehofer Straße 49, Tel. (02 01) 2 48 84 03. These steam baths attract men of all ages (yes, young guys too, we are told!) and
Wednesdays and Sundays are 'two for the price of one'.
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:
•Coxx, Ehrenfeld Straße 2, Tel. (02
34) 33 72 96. A pre-party venue where guys of all ages get together
for a night of partying.
•Freibad, Clemens Straße 2, Tel. (02
34) 31 21 35. A cocktail bar with especially cheap drinks on Thursdays.
•Orlando, Alte Hattinger Straße 31, Tel. (02 34) 3 42 42. Being very mixed, however, you're less likely to make any significant hook ups here.
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. (Update: In April 2014, EXIT merged with rik and no longer appears as an independent magazine).
Hamburg gay/lesbian information
Second only to Berlin's, the Hamburg
gay/lesbian scene can also be a wild one. There are two main gay
areas in the city:
•St Georg district - just a little east of
the central Hauptbahnhof railway station connecting to the airport.
Lange Reihe and Steindamm are the two streets between and around which the gay scene is centered.
•St Pauli - further to the west. St Pauli is the center of Hamburg's famously sleazy nightlife, through which
runs the legendary sex strip of the Reeperbahn. The gay scene here is a little more mixed than in St Georg.
A starter for gay Hamburg
Pit Club (Pulverteich 17): big disco with the cruisy dark-roomed cafe Male upstairs.
Black (Danziger Straße 21): leather/rubber/uniform.
Cafe Gnosa (Lange Reihe 93): Hamburg's most famous
gay cafe.
Wunderbar (Talstraße 14): a packed joint
for the late night crowd.
EDK (Gerhardstraße 3): for the even later night crowd - starting around 4am.
Pulverfaß Cabaret (Reeperbahn 147): for drag and good fun.
Dragon Sauna (Pulverteich 37)
For more details of where to go and what to do check out:
Gay information centers in Hamburg
Magnus Hirschfeld Centrum, Borgweg 8. Tel 040/278
778 00. info@mhc-hamburg.de
Hein & Fiete (website in German only). Pulverteich. Tel 040-240-333 Mon-Fri 4pm-9pm, Sat
4pm-7pm.
Gay information magazines in Hamburg
hinnerk (German language only). Offices located at Steindamm 11.
yag. A new gay info mag that began in 2004. Hinnerk is a German magazine for the LGBT community in Hamburg, Bremen and the northern part of Germany. Hinnerk is a free magazine and distributes around 25,000 copies monthly.
Gay/Lesbian bookshops in Hamburg
Gay bookshop
Buchladen Mannerschwarm (website in German only) Lange Reihe 102. Open
Mon-Fri 11am-7.30pm, Sat 11am-5pm. Tel.436093.
Lesbian bookshop
Frauenbuchladen Hamburg, Bismarckstraße 98. Open Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat 11am-4pm. Tel. 040-420-47-48. info@frauenbuchladen-hh.w4w.de
Hanover Gay/Lesbian information
Friends the Gaymap listings for gay Hanover.
Kaiserslautern Gay/Lesbian information
Gay listing for Kaiserslautern.
Click on 'City Guide', then on 'Bars and Cafés', 'Clubs and Parties', 'Saunas and Cruising', or 'Sex Shops and Kinos'. In German
(gay-web.de) but easy enough to follow for those out for some fun and friendship in Kaiserslauten.
Leipzig Gay/Lesbian information
Gay listing for Leipzig. In German
(gay-web.de) but easy enough to follow for those out for some fun and friendship
in Leipzig. Click on the top left 'City guide' link.
Munich Gay/Lesbian information
Munich is Germany's third
largest city and as such has a thriving gay scene centered around
Sendlinger Tor and Mullerstraße.
Gay information center in Munich
Gay Community Center at Mullerstraße 41,
with its own bar Sub
Try Mrs. Henderson on Sundays for the drag show!
For details of what's on and where to go visit the Friends the Gaymap listing for gay Munich.
Nuremberg Gay/Lesbian information
Friends the Gaymap listing for gay Nuremburg.
Stuttgart Gay/Lesbian information
Gay listing for Stuttgart. In German
(gay-web.de) but easy enough to follow for those out for some fun and friendship
in Stuttgart. Click on the top left 'City guide' link.
Baden Baden Berlin Cologne Dortmund Dusseldorf Frankfurt Freiburg Garmisch-Partenkirchen Gelsenkirchen Hamburg Hanover Heidelberg Kaiserslautern Leipzig Munich Nuremburg Regensburg Stuttgart Trier Tubingen
Read here about the gay scene in Austria
Read here about the gay scene in Poland
Read here about the gay scene in Switzerland
Read here about the gay scene in South Africa
Read here about the gay scene in Ukraine
Read here about the gay scene in Japan.