Mahide Lein
Mahide Lein | |
|---|---|
_at_Side_By_Side_2009.JPG) At the 2009 Side by Side Festival | |
| Born | 1949 (age 75–76) Höchst, Germany |
| Education | Goethe University Frankfurt |
| Occupation | Activist |
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
[edit]Lein was born in 1949 in Höchst. She attended Goethe University Frankfurt.[citation needed]
Lein became involved with the New Women's Movement and ran the women's café Café Niedenau in a squatted house on Kettenhofweg in Frankfurt am Main from the 1970s.[1] The café hosted exhibitions, political discussions and concerts.[2] She was also one of the founders of the first lesbian centre in Frankfurt.[1]
After moving to Berlin, Lein is credited with shaping Berlin's lesbian scene in the 1980s and 1990s.[3][4] She was an organiser of the Berlin Christopher Street Day (CSD, Germany and Switzerland's counterpart to pride parades),[5] the anti-psychiatric Irren-Offensive Tribunals,[2] and the KultHur-Festival to promote sex workers' rights.[2]
During the 1990s, Lein worked with gay men on a Russian-German cultural exchange.[2] In May 1992, Lein, the German filmmaker and LGBTQ+ activist Andreas Strohfeldt and the Tschaikowsky Foundation in Saint Petersburg organised the first Russian CSD.[1]
Lein launched the lesbian magazine TV programme Läsbisch TV,[3][6] with 27 one-hour episodes broadcast on Berliner Kabel from 1991 to 1993.[1][7][8] She has also been interviewed for lesbian documentaries, commenting on "the problems of speaking openly about taboo desires in sexually less tolerant societies."[9] She sat on the jury for the queer film prize TEDDY for two decades[1] and spoke at the 2nd Side by Side LGBT Film Festival in 2009.[citation needed]
Lein is the founder and head the international concert agency AHOI.[1][10]
Awards
[edit]- CSD Berlin Civil Courage Prize at CSD 2004[2][5]
- Rainbow Award given at Lesbian and Gay City Festival Berlin 2018[2][5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "SEX IM ALTER: Homage for Mahide Lein's 69th Birthday". Schwules Museum. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f Nestler, Fabian (9 November 2022). "Mahide Lein: 'Courage and humor have made my work bearable'". Creative City Berlin. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ a b Anhamm, Ulrike (11 October 2015). "LESgende: Mahide Lein". LESPRESS (in German). Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ "Lesbenaktivistin Mahide Lein: 'Kultur ist kein Luxus!'". Siegessäule (in German). Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ a b c Balser, Saskia (8 November 2024). "Pionierin für lesbische Sichtbarkeit: Mahide Lein wird 75 Jahre alt". mannschaft.com (in German). Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ "Läsbisch-TV". Kiez und Kneipe (in German). 15 February 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ Clarke, Kevin. "'Das erste lesbische Fernsehmagazin auf diesem Planeten'". queer.de (in German). Retrieved 20 May 2025.
- ^ Die Andere Welt (in German). Vol. 4. Die Andere Welt. 1993. p. 29.
- ^ Kuzniar, Alice A. (2000). The Queer German Cinema. Stanford University Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-8047-3995-5.
- ^ von Lochte, Paula. "Lesbenfrühlingstreffen 2021 in der Kritik: 'Wie weit sind wir gekommen, dass wir nicht mehr miteinander reden!'". www.l-mag.de (in German). Retrieved 20 May 2025.