Unfortunately, a lot of mainstream services are not well aware of the particular struggles of the LGBTQ+ community and their effects on mental health. Additionally, as a queer person, you may feel more comfortable speaking to someone who is also queer. If you find yourself in need of mental health support, you can use the directory at VLSP to find a counselling centre that explicitly focuses on supporting LGBTQ+ people.

If you are a refugee or asylum seeker, you might want to access specific services that cater to your needs. In addition to the directories listed above, you can also reach out to Schwulenberatung Berlin, which offers counselling specifically for LGBTQ+ refugees. Also, LSVD Berlin runs the MILES project, which offers psychosocial counselling for LGBTQ+ migrants, refugees, and people of colour.

Moreover, Trans Inter Queer offer counselling specifically for trans, intersex, and non-binary refugees, while Gladt offer culturally relevant counselling for queer, trans, and intersex people of colour.

You can use the directory on Sidekicks Berlin to find specific mental health support for LGBTQ+ users and people in recovery.

Among some of those listed include Mann-O-Meter and Schwulenberatung Berlin.

Mann-O-Meter offer chemsex support groups for users who wish to continue chemsex, as well as those looking to stop. You can find out more about these groups here.

Schwulenberatung Berlin also offer specific alcohol and drug counselling for LGBTQ+ people.

Queer people are everywhere in Berlin! You can find many different LGBTQ+ organisations that offer activities of all kinds, so you’re assured to find something that caters to your taste.

Besides counselling services, Schwulenberatung Berlin organises a wide variety of in-person meeting groups that target specific collectives, such as sober LGBTQ+ people, neurodivergent queer people, and older LGBTQ+ people. For more information and to see when each group is scheduled, go to their website.

Lambda is a queer youth centre for LGBTQ+ people aged 14-27, which runs a range of workshops, projects, and groups, alongside counseling sessions and a youth cafe. Check out their website to see what’s on.

Gladt is an organisation created by and for BIPOC LGBTQ+ people, and offer workshops and social groups that facilitate exploring identity, solidarity, and QTIPOC joy. Their upcoming offers are listed on their Instagram account.

TransInterQueer runs a wide array of social and activity groups alongside its advice and counseling services, including cooking classes, knitting and crochet groups, picnics, and film screenings. These are designed for trans, intersex, and non-binary people.

In addition to these organisations, you can check out meetup.com to find other LGBTQ+ social groups centred around specific hobbies or interests.

Learning German can make your life in Berlin significantly easier, allowing you to make friends, get a job, communicate with your doctor, and much more. Attending German classes is also a great opportunity to meet other migrants that might be in a similar situation as you.

Germany uses the CEFR framework to assess your language skills, with A1 meaning you have a basic understanding, up to C2, which demonstrates very high competence. When applying for jobs, or certain types of residency (such as permanent resident status), you may need to prove your German skills, normally by showing you’ve passed an exam for the skill level that your application demands.

Community colleges in Berlin, known as Volkschochschule, offer public language classes that can be more affordable than private language schools. However, class sizes tend to be larger, and there is less flexibility than what you might find with private language schools.

Two private options to consider are DeutSCHule, which runs gender sensitive and diversity-focused German classes, and Queer Gesprochen is a Berlin-based organisation that runs all-online German language classes for LGBTQ+ people, with a focus on gender-neutral language.

There are several groups that support LGBTQ+ people from different cultural backgrounds:

• MSG & Friends is a Berlin-based, queer-led collective that seeks to empower artists of Asian heritage, by providing event space, performing opportunities, and workshops on political and social awareness.

• Gladt was initially founded as a support and advocacy group for Turkish LGBTQ+ people, but has since grown to provide social and creative spaces for other LGBTQ+ PoC. Their Instagram account advertises their upcoming events.

• Quarteera is a community group for Russian-speaking LGBTQ+ people, with a focus on political education, supporting the arts, and running several projects including Marzahn Pride.

• Queers Against Borders is a performance party group building solidarity with and for queer and trans refugees in Berlin, and many of its resident artists and performers are of Syrian and Iraqi descent. Check out what they have going on from their Instagram page.

• And once again, Schwulenberatung Berlin runs a number of drop-ins, social groups, and gatherings where you can meet other LGBTQ+ refugees and migrants.

The Schwules Museum was the first museum in the world dedicated entirely to LGBTQ+ history, and alongside its vast archives, it holds several temporary exhibitions each year showcasing LGBTQ+ art, photography, and stories.

The Ballery is a studio, gallery, showroom and event space that holds exhibitions and talks with a focus on LGBTQ+ art and culture. They also run a series of political cabarets called Transvision.

Meanwhile, the Berlinische Gallerie holds many objects and collections relevant to LGBTQ+ history and culture, which have been effectively curated as part of the Out And About project. You can learn more about this on their website, here.

If you are looking to rent a room in a shared house, the most popular website you can use is WG Gesucht. It has a filter to find LGBTQ+ houseshares.

You can also join the Facebook group Queer Housing Berlin to find more available rooms in queer households, or to meet other LGBTQ+ people to buddy up with and rent a property together.

Berlin is an extremely diverse city, and queer people are everywhere! For this reason, there is no particular area that is more queer-friendly than others.

However, there are some areas that have a higher concentration of LGBTQ+ venues and organisations, and that tend to attract queer people. In addition to the areas traditionally known as queer hot-spots (such as Schoneberg and Nollendorfplatz), other neighbourhoods popular amongst the LGBTQ+ community include Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte, Friedrichschain, and Neukolln.

Scwulenberatung Berlin runs an official shelter for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees, where they can stay while they go through the long asylum process. They also provide other general support to LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers. For more information, check out their webpage.

QueerHome provides advice and support for LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness, or at risk of becoming homeless. They advise on housing emergencies, and might also be able to assist you in finding a new, more permanent place to live in addition to directing you to temporary services. You can learn more about them from their website here.

If you want to rent a property, you will likely be required to provide a Schufa Bonitatsauskunft. This is something like a credit report, and draws on information from when you first open a bank account or sign up to a cellphone contract for the first time. Landlords are more likely to agree to rent a property to you if you have a good Schufa score.

If you are relatively new to the country, you may not have much information, if any, on your Schufa report. In this case, the best thing you can do is demonstrate you have either sufficient savings or a regular income, as well as informing the landlord of your recent arrival.

Your landlord can increase your rent based on local comparative rent, i.e. the average cost of similar properties in your local area. However, this cannot be higher than a 15% increase over three years, and the landlord must justify why they are increasing the rent.

If you’re worried about rent increases, or if you’re experiencing problems with your landlord, it is worth contacting the Berlin Tenant’s Association.

Renter’s rights are relatively well protected in Germany, however you might be at risk of being evicted for several different reasons, such as if you repeatedly do not pay rent on time, if you engage antisocial behaviour, or if you use the property in a way that violates the tenancy agreement (such as subletting). In this case, the landlord has the right to evict you without a notice period.

If the landlord requires the property for personal use - such as selling it on or moving in themselves - they must give you a minimum of three months’ notice. This increases to six months’ notice if you’ve lived in the property for more than five years, and nine month’s notice if you’ve lived in the property for more than eight years.

You have the right to protest an eviction, regardless of whether or not there is notice, but bear in mind this means the matter can be taken to court.

If you have been given an eviction notice, you may be able to apply for a notice period, or a longer notice period, under what is called a “social clause”. This is in place to protect you if being evicted with short or no notice would lead to significant hardship, or to give you more time to find alternative living arrangements.

You may want to contact a lawyer if you’ve been served an eviction notice, and it’s also worth checking out the information available from the Berlin Tenant’s Association.

If a landlord refuses to rent their property to you, treats you unfairly or tries to evict you for being queer, you can take action against them for violating the General Equal Treatment Act. Make sure to prepare and gather as much evidence as you can before taking legal action. You can learn more about how you are protected, and what action you can take, from this link.

If your flatmates are discriminating or being abusive towards you for being queer, the best thing to do for your safety is to leave as soon as possible. If you feel comfortable, you can report the issue to your landlord/estate agent to explain why you want to move out, or try to find a solution.

You will normally have to give at least one month’s notice to move out. If you feel like your safety is at risk and you need to leave immediately, you can reach out to QueerHome for advice and to find temporary accommodation.

Most landlords will require you to go through an income and identity check process before renting out their property to you, and may not accept tenants who are undocumented or cannot provide proof of income. However, some landlords might accept cash payments if you ask them.

If you are a sex worker, you do not have to disclose your occupation - the most important thing is to provide proof that you earn enough to afford rent. If you can afford it, you can offer to pay several months’ rent in advance to increase your chances of securing a place to live.