Emden - Guide for Gays, Lesbians and Queers

As far as can be verified, Emden has no queer bar, no café with a scene connection and no gay sauna. The most important point of contact is therefore not a venue but an association.

Queeres Netzwerk Ostfriesland is a non-profit association based in Emden. Its aim is to build and connect queer structures in this rural region. It organises the annual Pride march in Emden and runs a queer youth group. During the planning period the organising team meets weekly, and anyone who wants to help can send a short email and will be contacted. The association's postal address is care of the Café Life-Point on Ysaak-Brons-Straße in Emden.

In Norden, roughly half an hour north, GleichArt Café offers a regular meeting point. Volunteers open it on the first and third Monday of every month in the evening at the Jugendhaus Norden youth centre, Parkstraße 45 A. Queer people of every gender and orientation are welcome. For teenagers and young adults it is often the easiest way in.

The nearest larger scene is in Oldenburg, which is reachable by regional train via Leer. A separate association organises the city's large Pride there, one of the biggest in Germany, and the city of Oldenburg has its own section on queer life on its website. Bremen, a larger city further east, has even more counselling services and bars.

On the legal side, same-sex couples in Germany can marry and adopt children jointly, and gender markers can be changed by a simple declaration at the registry office. At the same time, the number of recorded anti-LGBTIQ offences in Lower Saxony has risen sharply. Anyone who experiences violence or harassment can report it to the police and seek support from the association. Many people in the region also use dating apps to meet others, simply because there are so few fixed meeting places.