Manuela Kay (born 2 April 1964) is a German journalist, author and publisher.

Life and career

Kay worked from the first day of its founding (March 1987) until February 1991 as the editor and presenter of the first Berlin private Radio Station, ''Radio 100'', including the gay-lesbian show ‘Eldoradio’. She is co-author and film producer of numerous video films on the theme of

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 ...

sexuality and

feminist pornography Feminist pornography, also known by other terms in internet such as 'ethical porn' or 'fair-trade porn' is a genre of film developed by or for those within the sex-positive feminist movement. It was created for the purpose of promoting gender eq ...

. In 1992 and 1994, she released the films ‘Du Darfst’ (engl. title “Truth or Dare“) and ‘Airport’. The 33-minute, low budget film ‘Airport’ is regarded as the first German lesbian porno and remains to this day a milestone in the history of pornography. After working as a freelance

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, author and presenter, she worked from 1996 until 2005 as the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of Berlin's queer city magazine,

Siegessäule The Victory Column ( , from '' Sieg'' 'victory' + '' Säule'' 'column') is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Second Schleswig War, by the time it was inaugura ...

published then by Jackwerth publishing company. Kay played a decisive role in the redevelopment of the magazine from a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

male publication to a gay-lesbian and ultimately

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

inclusive content. In 2003, she planned and conceived the lesbian magazine, the L-MAG and was co-editor in-chief with Peter Polzer at its inception. From 1995 to 2005, she worked at Berlin's International Film Festival in the Panorama section and the queer film prize, the Teddy Award. She is renowned within European (e.g. Kyiv, Turin, Bilbao, Barcelona, Bern, Lisbon, Prague) and international Film Festivals as a jury member and speaker. Kay co-curated the exhibition ‘Nobody is Perfect – Lesbian and Gay Film Idols’ with Wolfgang Theis and Maria Schmidt (20 January – 11 April 1999) in Berlin's Schwules* Museum (Gay* Museum) and conducted numerous guided tours throughout the duration of the exhibition. Since 2007, she has been working as the curator and a team member of the organising committee of the Pornfilmfestival Berlin. In 2012, the Jackwerth publishing company was dissolved and sold. Manuela Kay and her colleague of many years,

Gudrun Fertig Gudrun ( ; ) or Kriemhild ( ; ) is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two queens of the Merovingian dynas ...

, founded the Special Media SDL GmbH publishing house and took over the

and L-MAG and DU&ICH in 2012. Kay and Fertig become directors and majority shareholders of the above-mentioned publications. Kay's journalistic focus lies in the realm of lesbian culture, sexuality, film and international issues.

Socio-political commitments

Manuela Kay identifies as a radical feminist and is committed to lesbian visibility, Feminism and LGBT Rights in general. For the tenth anniversary of L-MAG in 2013, Kay realised a lifelong dream and initiated Berlin's inaugural Dyke* March, based on the USA's model. Since then, other German cities have followed suit: Cologne (2015), Hamburg (2016) and the Dyke* March in Heidelberg in 2017, with a demonstration for Lesbian Visibility, which took place the night before the

Pride March 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 eve ...

Awards

In 2013, Kay was the recipient of the IGLTA (International Gay Lesbian Travel Association) Travel Writer Award. In 2015, Manuela Kay and

were awarded the Augsburg-Heymann Prize. Since 2009, this annual award honours work by courageous lesbians LAG Lesbians in NRW (a network of lesbian groups in the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen) towards the Advancement and Visibility of Lesbian Women.

Publications

Films

* Du Darfst (You May) (1992) * Latex Hearts (1993) * Airport (1994) * Co-Producer and Co-Director of Short Film Collection Fucking Different XXX (2011)

Books

* Come Better. The Sex Book for Lesbians. (''Schöner Kommen: Das Sexbuch für Lesben''). Berlin: Querverlag. 5th Edition. 2000. * I Take this Love for Myself: Lesbian Guidebook. (''Diese Liebe Nehm' Ich Mir: Der Lesben-Ratgeber''). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2001. * (with

Axel Schock Axel Schock (born 11 September 1965 in Neckarbischofsheim, Baden-Württemberg) is a German journalist and author. Schock grew up in Sinsheim. He studied literature and theater at the Free University of Berlin. In 1982 he published his first work ...

) ''Out im Kino! – the Lesbian/Gay Film Dictionary (Out im Kino!: Das Lesbisch-Schwule Filmlexikon''). Berlin: Querverlag, 2003. * Translation: ''The L-Word: Wilkommen in Unserer Welt''. Berlin: Querverlag, 2006.

Book articles

* Important Things to know about Berlin Lesbians. Micha Schulze (Ed.): Homopolis. Gay Berlin. Jackwerth Verlag Berlin and Cologne 1997. * Warm Beer and Cold Stares. In:Traude Bührmann (Ed.): Lesbian Berlin: City Guide. Orlanda Frauenverlag (Orlanda Women's Press). Berlin 2002. (1999). * On the Hunt – Every Woman for Herself. In Joachim Braun & Beate Martin: Mixed Feelings. A Lesbian Reader for Sexual Orientation. Roror/Rowohlt. Hamburg 2001. * The Unerotic Whiff of Unleaded Petrol. In Detlef Grumbach (Ed.): Over the Rainbow. A Christopher Street Day (CSD) Reader. Männerschwarm Press. Hamburg 2001. * The Police are Shit. In Lisa Kuppler (Ed.): Queer Crime: Lesbian/Gay Crime Histories. Querverlag. Berlin 2002. * Women from Neukölln Fuck Better. In Jörg Sundermeier/ Sarah Diel/ Werner Labisch (Eds) Neukölln Book. Verbrecher Press. Berlin 2003. * Tantalising Conversations about Excruciating Sex - SM. In Dennert, Leidinger, Rauchut (Eds): On the Move – 100 Years of Lesbian Politics, Culture and History. Querverlag. Berlin 2007.

References

External links

L.Mag homepage
* Manuela Kay
"Ein Käfig voller Narben"
("A Cage Full of Scars" – article on LGBT film in Europe, German), '' Tageszeitung'' 4 March 2006 * Manuela Kay
"Unvermitteltes Poppen: Ein Pornofilm ist Kein Liebesfilm"
("Unmediated Screwing: A Porn Film is not a Love Film" – German), ''Tageszeitung'' 14 October 2006
Manuela Kay
in the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...

catalogue * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kay, Manuela 1964 births Living people German journalists German women journalists German lesbian writers Writers from Berlin Lesbian journalists German LGBTQ journalists 20th-century German LGBTQ people 21st-century German LGBTQ people 20th-century German women journalists 21st-century German women journalists