Berlin travel guide Spartacus reports that Germany has lost a lot of its attractiveness as a destination for gays and lesbians. The reason is increasing violence against homosexuals. But not everyone shares this view.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Schwarz
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10 gay-friendly locations in Berlin
On July 27, Berlin will again colorfully and loudly celebrate Christopher Street Day. The city however is a haven for the LGBTQ community all year round. Here are some Berlin tips for queer tourists.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/A. Ried
Nollendorfplatz, Schöneberg
Since the 1920s, Nollendorfplatz in the "rainbow neighborhood" of Schöneberg has been considered the center of the lesbian and gay scene in Berlin. Since 1993, a two-day lesbian-gay street festival, also known as the "Motzstraßenfest", has taken place every summer. It marks the beginning of Pride Week and, with around 350,000 visitors, is the largest homosexual street festival in Europe.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/A. Ried
Cafe Berio, Schöneberg
Just a few steps away from Nollendorfplatz is Cafe Berio, a popular meeting place for lesbians and gays in Berlin-Schöneberg. On hot summer days, the terrace is the perfect place for a nice chat among friends. The cafe has an excellent selection of food and drinks, and the homemade cakes in particular are very popular.
The ArtHotel "Connection" is also located in the "rainbow neighborhood" of Schöneberg. The gay hotel wants to offer gay Berlin visitors a charming place to stay, but guests of any sexual orientation are welcome as well. The extravagant furnishings in kitsch design are definitely an eye-catcher!
Image: ArtHotel Connection
Club SchwuZ, Neukölln
The parties that take place every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at SchwuZ have long been an institution in Berlin's LGBTQ nightlife. The music on the three dance floors varies between Pop, Rock, Techno and German traditional Schlager songs. Events such as talent competitions, Dyke-March-handicrafts and other interactive activities provide variety.
Image: SchwuZ
Schwules Museum, Tiergarten
The Schwules Museum (Gay Museum) in Berlin-Tiergarten has been informing its visitors about the diversity of sexual identities and gender concepts since 1985. It also offers free guided tours in English and German every Thursday (6 pm) and Saturday (4 pm).
Image: visitBerlin/D. Mathesius
Memorial to the first gay emancipation movement, Moabit
The memorial to the first homosexual emancipation movement, which began at the end of the 19th century with the works of sex researcher Magnus Hirschfeld, has been on the banks of the Spree since September 2017. The memorial is a popular destination for city tours tailored to homosexual audiences, such as the "Rainbow Gay Tour" or the "Queer Berlin Walk".
Image: imago/Christian Ditsch
"MonGay" at the cinema Kino International, Mitte
Every Monday at 10 pm "MonGay" takes place in the Kino International cinema on Karl Marx Avenue, a film evening for a gay and lesbian audience. A visit is worthwhile not only because of the excellent film selection, but also because of the homely atmosphere, which is reminiscent of a relaxed film evening with friends.
Image: DW/H. Rawlinson
OYA Bar, Kreuzberg
The "OYA" in Kreuzberg is a pub where women are meant to feel completely at ease. Delicious, predominantly vegetarian-vegan food is served here until 4 pm, and drink service is open-ended. Every Thursday is a women*, lesbian*, trans*, inter* and queer* evening (short: FLTIQ). In addition, LGBTQ artists regularly exhibit their works here.
Image: DW/R. Engels
Silver Future, Neukölln
The Silver Future is a gay bar in Neukölln, which is known far beyond the borders of Berlin for its provocative and unconventional themed parties. Every last Monday of the month the travesty show "Dragoholic" takes place. Homosexual refugees in particular, like Haidar Darwish (picture) who fled Syria in 2016, have a place to go in the Silver Future.
Image: Reuters/A. Cocca
Bar Himmelreich, Friedrichshain
For more than 15 years, Bar Himmelreich has been a regular meeting place for gay and lesbian people. A special highlight is the weekly "Women's Lounge" every Tuesday, an evening dedicated to the lesbian section of the LGBTQ community. The Frozen Margaritas with fresh fruit alone make a visit worthwhile!
Image: DW/N. Meißner
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In the spring, editors of the Berlin gay travel guide Spartacus sounded the alarm. In the the latest Gay Travel Index (GTI) ranking Germany had fallen sharply from third place to 23rd. The reason, Leander Milbrecht of Spartacus told DW, was the "increase in reported crimes against and assaults on lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) persons."
He pointed out that in 2018 in Berlin alone the police counted 225 crimes against queer people, 54 more than in 2017. "Queer" is the term used to describe people who deviate from heteronormativity.
The Berlin gay anti-violence project Maneo registered 382 attacks on queer people in 2018, 58 more than in the previous year. Milbrecht asserts that, according to figures from the government, similar tendencies can be observed throughout Germany. Additionally, experts assume a high number of unreported cases of people who do not report this type of attack.
Leander Milbrecht from the editorial team of "Spartacus" BerlinImage: Privat
The editorial team of Spartacus, a renowned provider of travel guides for gay men, compiles the GTI for 197 countries and regions each year using a range of criteria: Are there any threats of persecution, the death penalty or violent attacks? Is there state-sanctioned discrimination, such as travel restrictions for HIV-positive people or are Pride parades banned? And what about civil rights? This also includes marriage equality, which became legal in Germany in 2017.
In the eyes of the international community, Germany has been seen a liberal and tolerant country. And Berlin as a desirable destination for persecuted lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and queers fleeing their homelands. Could all this have changed so dramatically? Should a travel warning be issued, especially now that the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parades are being celebrated everywhere in Germany's cities with many LGBTQ tourists attending?
Jan Noll, editor-in-chief of the queer Berlin city magazine "Siegessäule" (Victory Column), urged caution in an interview with DW. "I wouldn't say that homophobic attacks in Germany have taken on an extent that would discourage queer people from travelling here," he said.
Jan Noll, editor-in-chief of the queer Berlin magazine "Siegessäule", also regards the Gay Travel Index criticallyImage: Marcus Witte
Noll, like other experts, assumes that the increase in the numbers is also due to the increased willingness of victims to report the attacks.
David Staeglich-Büge, a board member at the Berlin CSD, which is celebrated with a parade this weekend, sees it similarly. He would be happy of course if Germany occupied top spot in the safety category, he told DW.
But for Berlin nothing has changed: "The sense of security within the Berlin community is still very strong". Nevertheless, there is "increasing uncertainty" within the community, said Staeglich.
For him, however, it derives more from the political sphere: "The threat from the right is seen to be greater than the threat from hate crime," he said. According to the organizers, all of this has no effect on this year's Berlin CSD celebrations, the largest and most international in Germany.
Berlin Pride through the years
Berlin celebrated its 40th annual LGBT Pride celebration, also known as Christopher Street Day, in 2018. A look back at the history of one of Europe's biggest Pride festivals.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Groundbreaker
Bernd Gaiser, a longtime rights activist, founded Berlin Pride in 1979. Gaiser told <i>Die Zeit</i> newspaper in 2018 that his community realized, "that only when we, as gay men and lesbians, go out in public and confront society ... can we force them to change their attitudes towards us." About 500 people attended that first celebration.
Image: picture-alliance/TSP/M. Wolff
Fight for your rights
Each year, Berlin Pride has a different theme decided upon by a public forum. In 1998, for the first time, the party got political. "We demand equal rights," was the theme. Same-sex couples were not even allowed legally recognized civil partnerships in Germany until 2001.
Image: picture-alliance
Christopher Street Day
In many German cities, Pride is also known as Christopher Street Day or CSD. Christopher Street is the New York location of the Stonewall Inn. In the early hours of July 28, 1969, police led a brutal raid inside the famous gay bar. The ensuing violent demonstrations of gay and lesbian New Yorkers against the excessive force used by police became known as the Stonewall Riots.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Mainstream support
In February 2001, same-sex couples were granted legal civil unions, largely due to the efforts of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who were in power at the time and able to pass the law over the protests of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU). SPD Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse (left) attended Berlin Pride that year in a sign of solidarity.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Activists in all forms
In 2014, as the fight to legalize gay marriage was heating up, Brandenburg state Police Commissioner risked disciplinary action by marching in the Pride Parade in his uniform without permission. Over the years, CSD Berlin has become of the biggest pride celebrations in the world.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Carstensen
Marriage legalization
The 2017 parade would be the last before gay marriage was legalized in Germany, which came in October of that year after Chancellor Angela Merkel manuevered a way to let it happen without herself having to promote it and alienate her more conservative voter base. However, the LGBT community in Germany still faces regular discrimination, such as in adoption law.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Miss CSD
From 500 attendants in 1979, Berlin Pride now averages about 500,000 participants a year. The celebration is no longer just for the LGBT community, but for allies as well.
Image: Getty Images/C. Koall
Always political
Pride is often political, and the causes championed each year at Christopher Street Day are not only LGBT rights but human rights and problems that affect all people. Here, a participant holds up an environmental awareness sign: "Avoid plastic waste!"
Image: Getty Images/C. Koall
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No impact on CSD
On the contrary: The 50th anniversary year of the New York Stonewall uprising of gay men against arbitrary police action is expected to see even more participants from all over the world than usual in the German capital. Obviously, they are not discouraged by reports of increasing violence against the LGBTQ community.
Nevertheless, the fact that Germany has not reacted to the rise in the number of reported attacks with an action plan has, in the view of "Spartacus," had a further negative effect on the ranking in the GTI. "French President Emmanuel Macron reacted to a similar increase," said Leander Milbrecht. In Germany, on the other hand, only states like Berlin have adopted action plans. At the federal level, no comparable initiative has yet been planned.
"Spartacus" sees the third big minus point for Germany as a travel destination in the lack of modern legislation for transgenders and queers. The law on the third option, which came into force in December 2018 and allows the gender specification "divers" in addition to male and female for the first time, has been sharply criticized by the LGBTQ community. According to Jan Noll, the editor-in-chief of the "Siegessäule" (Victory Column) magazine, it is still "sometimes incredibly difficult especially for trans* people to change their marital status".
CSD also marked in Berlin's neighborhoods: here the district mayor hoists the rainbow flag in FriedrichshainImage: Bezirksamt Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg/S. Lühmann
Inequality in the eyes of the law
The reason, according to Noll, is sloppiness in the wording of the law. From the point of view of the LGBTQ community, the result is a statutory discrimination against transgender people. Because whether the law applies only to inter-sexual persons or also to trans* persons, is currently regulated differently by authorities in Germany.
Whether this legal uncertainty was pivotal for a travel ranking is, however, a matter of opinion. Even experts from the LGBTQ community such as Jan Noll have criticized Spartacus: "The criteria to which Spartacus refers here are political criteria that do not manifest themselves on the street. These are not criteria upon which travel plans are tied."
And most people don't. The German National Tourist Board considers international "LGBTQ tourism" to be an important market sector. According to its estimates, which were made available to DW, three percent of all journeys to Germany, a total of 1.2 million a year, are attributed to this sector. And in Berlin it is even estimated to account for every 6th hotel booking.
Enough incentive then to quickly regain a place at the top of the GTI's travel ranking, if possible first place. Three countries currently share this position: Canada, Sweden and Portugal.
