Mahide Lein (born 1949) is a German LGBTQ+ activist, organiser and head of a concert agency. She has also campaigned for sex workers' rights and with the anti-psychiatric movement.
Biography
Lein was born in 1949 in
Höchst. She attended
Goethe University Frankfurt
Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...
.
Lein became involved with the New Women's Movement and ran the women's café ''Café Niedenau'' in a
squatted
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
house on Kettenhofweg in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
from the 1970s.
The café hosted exhibitions, political discussions and concerts.
She was also one of the founders of the first
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
centre in Frankfurt.
After moving to
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, Lein is credited with shaping Berlin's lesbian scene in the 1980s and 1990s.
She was an organiser of the Berlin
Christopher Street Day
Christopher Street Day (CSD) is an annual European LGBTQ+ celebration and demonstration held in various cities across Europe for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and against discrimination and exclusion. It is Germany's and Switzerland's counter ...
(CSD, Germany and Switzerland's counterpart to
pride parades
A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The even ...
),
the
anti-psychiatric Tribunals,
and the KultHur-Festival to promote
sex workers' rights.
During the 1990s, Lein worked with gay men on a Russian-German
cultural exchange
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these ...
.
In May 1992, Lein, the German filmmaker and LGBTQ+ activist
Andreas Strohfeldt and the Tschaikowsky Foundation in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
organised the first Russian CSD.
Lein launched the lesbian magazine TV programme ''Läsbisch TV'',
with 27 one-hour episodes broadcast on Berliner Kabel from 1991 to 1993.
She has also been interviewed for lesbian documentaries, commenting on "the problems of speaking openly about
taboo
A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
desires in sexually less tolerant societies." She sat on the jury for the queer film prize TEDDY for two decades
and spoke at the 2nd
Side by Side LGBT Film Festival in 2009.
Lein is the founder and head the international concert agency AHOI.
Awards
* at CSD 2004
* given at
Lesbian and Gay City Festival
The Lesbian and Gay City Festival (''Lesbisch-Schwules Stadtfest'') in Berlin is Europe's largest street festival for lesbians and gays. It has been held in the traditional gay area around Nollendorfplatz in Schöneberg since 1993.
In Berlin it ...
Berlin 2018
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lein, Mahide
1944 births
German lesbians
German women activists
German women in business
Sex worker activists
Anti-psychiatry activists
LGBTQ rights activists
Living people