Mahide Lein

Mahide Lein
At the 2009 Side by Side Festival
Born1949 (age 76–77)
Höchst, Germany
EducationGoethe University Frankfurt
OccupationActivist

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, Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany.[1] Her mother was an accordionist and draftsman, and her father worked as a master goldsmith.[2] She was raised as a Protestant.[1] Lein studied political science and religion at Goethe University Frankfurt and apprenticed as an office clerk for two years after graduating.[3]

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.[4] The café hosted exhibitions, political discussions and concerts.[5] She was also one of the founders of the first lesbian centre in Frankfurt.[4]

After moving to Berlin, Lein is credited with shaping Berlin's lesbian scene in the 1980s and 1990s.[6][7] She was an organiser of the Berlin Christopher Street Day (CSD, Germany and Switzerland's counterpart to pride parades),[8] the anti-psychiatric Irren-Offensive Tribunals,[5] and the KultHur-Festival to promote sex workers' rights.[5]

During the 1990s, Lein worked with gay men on a Russian-German cultural exchange.[5] In May 1992, Lein, the German filmmaker and LGBTQ+ activist Andreas Strohfeldt and the Tschaikowsky Foundation in Saint Petersburg organised the first Russian CSD.[4]

Lein launched the lesbian magazine television programme Läsbisch TV,[6][1] with 27 one-hour episodes broadcast on the Berliner Kabel station from 1991 to 1993.[4][9][10] She has also been interviewed for lesbian documentaries, commenting on "the problems of speaking openly about taboo desires in sexually less tolerant societies"[11] and on queer aging for Vice magazine.[12] She sat on the jury for the queer film prize TEDDY for two decades[4] and spoke at the 2nd Side by Side LGBT Film Festival in 2009.

Lein is the founder and head the international concert agency AHOI Kultur.[3][4][6][13]

Awards

She was also honoured with an award for her 75th birthday by the Berlin Music Commission.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Läsbisch-TV". Kiez und Kneipe (in German). 15 February 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  2. ^ Schwab, Waltraud (2016). "Meine Eltern waren Hausbesitzer". Kreuzberger Chronic. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  3. ^ a b Kretschmer, Christina (18 June 2005). "Die Welt bin ich". Taz.de (in German). Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "SEX IM ALTER: Homage for Mahide Lein's 69th Birthday". Schwules Museum. Archived from the original on 4 June 2025. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Nestler, Fabian (9 November 2022). "Mahide Lein: 'Courage and humor have made my work bearable'". Creative City Berlin. Archived from the original on 4 June 2025. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Anhamm, Ulrike (11 October 2015). "LESgende: Mahide Lein". LESPRESS (in German). Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  7. ^ "Lesbenaktivistin Mahide Lein: 'Kultur ist kein Luxus!'". Siegessäule (in German). 9 November 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Clarke, Kevin. "'Das erste lesbische Fernsehmagazin auf diesem Planeten'". queer.de (in German). Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  10. ^ Die Andere Welt (in German). Vol. 4. Die Andere Welt. 1993. p. 29.
  11. ^ Kuzniar, Alice A. (2000). The Queer German Cinema. Stanford University Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-8047-3995-5.
  12. ^ Theis, Alexandra (4 April 2023). "Joyful Portraits of Queer Elders". VICE. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  13. ^ Lochte, Paula (9 May 2021). "Lesbenfrühlingstreffen 2021 in der Kritik: 'Wie weit sind wir gekommen, dass wir nicht mehr miteinander reden!'". L-mag.de (in German). Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  14. ^ Tepest, Eva (19 July 2018). "Mahide Lein im Queerspiegel-Newsletter: „Wir sollten über Sex im Alter reden"". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  15. ^ "Mahide Lein". LISTEN TO BERLIN (in German). Retrieved 28 July 2025.
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