Witten - Guide for Gays, Lesbians and Queers

Witten has no queer bars, cafés, saunas or community centre of its own. The town in the Ennepe-Ruhr district, between Bochum and Dortmund, is a mid-sized place where queer life mostly happens in private circles or in the larger neighbouring cities. Visitors looking for LGBTQ venues or organised groups will need to head to one of those cities, which are easy to reach by bus and train.

The closest established point of contact is Rosa Strippe in Bochum, on Kortumstraße. It is a psychosocial counselling centre for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. Counselling takes place in person by appointment, which can be arranged by phone or through the centre's online contact form. There is also a crisis and information phone line with coming-out advice. Beyond counselling, Rosa Strippe runs group activities, a youth section and work on rainbow families, health and prevention. Its SCHLAU project brings queer topics into schools, and the centre also has a refugee programme. The building is accessible for people with and without disabilities.

Rosa Strippe belongs to a statewide network of counselling services for LGBTIQ people and their families that North Rhine-Westphalia funds in Bielefeld, Bochum, Dortmund, Cologne, Münster and Siegen. The Bochum centre is also the state's specialist service for queer people with an international background or refugee experience. For people from Witten this is the most reliable way into the regional community, whether they need advice, want to meet others in a group or simply want to know what is going on nearby.