About LGBTQ+ Berlin
Magnus Hirschfeld founded the Institute of Sexual Science (Institut für Sexualwissenschaft) in Berlin in 1919. It was one of the first scholarly research institutes in the world devoted to gender, sexuality, and what would now be called LGBTQ+ rights. Its library was destroyed by Nazis in 1933 in one of the more infamous book burnings of that year.
Schöneberg has been Berlin's historic gay neighborhood since the Weimar era, centered on Nollendorfplatz. The streets around the U-Bahn station, including Motzstraße, Fuggerstraße, and Eisenacher Straße, hold the city's oldest gay bars. A pink granite memorial at Nollendorfplatz U-Bahn station commemorates the gay men deported from Berlin to Nazi concentration camps. It was unveiled in 1989 and is one of the first such public memorials in Europe.
The contemporary scene is distributed across multiple neighborhoods. Kreuzberg, particularly SO36 around Oranienstraße, hosts the city's queer-punk and politically engaged venues. Friedrichshain holds many of the cruise and sex-positive clubs as well as the long-running techno parties. Neukölln has a growing queer-of-color and trans-oriented nightlife scene.
Berghain, opened in 2004 in a former power station in Friedrichshain, is one of the most internationally recognized techno clubs in the world. Its door policy is famously selective and photography inside is prohibited.
Berlin has two parallel Pride events. The official Christopher Street Day (CSD) takes place in late July, with a parade typically ending at Tiergarten. KreuzbergCSD (Transgenialer CSD), founded in 1997, runs separately each June with a more politically engaged and less corporate program. Lesbian and Trans Pride marches also run separately each June.
Folsom Europe, a leather and kink street fair modeled on San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair, takes place in Schöneberg each September. Easter Berlin is the international leather meet held over Easter weekend. The Pornfilmfestival (October) and the Teddy Awards at the Berlinale (February) are the city's main queer film events.
Germany legalized same-sex marriage in October 2017. Berlin's S-Bahn and U-Bahn run 24 hours on Friday and Saturday nights. The Schwules Museum, founded in 1985, is one of the oldest LGBTQ+ museums in the world and is located in Tiergarten.