About us

GLADT is an organization of black, indigenous and persons of color lesbians, gays, bisexuals, Trans, Inter and queers in Berlin. We are involved on different levels against racism, sexism, trans- and homophobia, ableism, and other forms of discrimination.

A special focus of our work is on the topics of multiple discrimination and intersectionality, meaning the overlap and interactions of different forms of discrimination and their specific resulting experiences.

Team

We welcome people who support our work.

There are many ways in which you can support GLADT or become active yourself:

Donate now

GLADT is dependent on donations for its work, especially because it supports recipients.

Donation account

please contact info@gladt.de

Volunteering

Interested parties who would like to contribute their time on a regular basis are welcome to contact us at info@gladt.de. We will then consider together where and how we can support the work of GLADT.

Internship

We offer people the opportunity to join our team as part of an internship. We particularly welcome queer black people and PoC who apply for an internship with us!

Our understanding of black and people of color

When we talk about “black”, “white” and “of color” here and in our work, we never mean biological characteristics of individual people or groups of people. Such homogenizable groups have never existed and do not exist today. Nevertheless, supposed commonalities are created based on social inequality, which puts some people (groups) at an advantage and others at a disadvantage. With “black”, “white” and “people of color”, we therefore refer to the social, political, legal (...) opportunities for participation or classifications in a racist system that distributes resources and access to them unequally and turns some forms of difference into social inequality. It is the collective experiences of exclusion from education, work, housing and other important social goods that lead to common ground in the struggle for equal rights. An overview of the political use of these perspectives can be found in the following texts, among others:

Values & History

GLADT has a long and eventful history that began in the late 1990s and has initiated and/or accompanied many debates on «Queer» and «of Color» in Berlin. The following terms describe GLADT and our work best:

  • 1990s

    The Berlin Türkgay group, which emerged at the end of the 1990s, developed into the GLADT association by 2003.

  • 2001

    The attacks of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent rapid rise in anti-Muslim racism made it necessary to deal with “intersectionality” in practice.

  • 2003

    Foundation of GLADT. Dealing with topics such as: Gender Identity as well as racism and nationalism.

  • 2004

    Another important milestone was the founding of the Migration Council Berlin. At the time, this was the only umbrella organization of migrant organizations in Germany.

  • 2008

    Foundation of GLADT. Dealing with topics such as: Gender Identity as well as racism and nationalism.

Today, GLADT is an organization of Black Queers and Queers of Color with and without their own history of immigration. GLADT has a long and eventful history that began in the late 1990s and has initiated and/or accompanied many debates on «Queer» and «of Color» in Berlin.

In many German cities in the mid 80s, there were already individuals, groups and networks of black and/or immigrants that dealt with issues of feminism, as well as equal rights for lesbians and gays, and later also for trans and inter people.

From the Berlin Türkgay group, which was formed at the end of the 90s, the association GLADT was developed up until the year of 2003, leading discussions about gender(identity) as well as racism and nationalism, even before its foundation. It was by no means the case that a group of Turkish gay men was sensitized to internal diversity. Questions were still to be answered such as what did it mean to be a woman, a trans person or a Kurdish person? Was the group really «open» to everyone, as it claimed? It was also argued whether the emerging association should comment on religious issues, for example the 9/11 attacks in the year of 2001 followed by the rapidly rising of anti-Muslim racism made it necessary to put «intersectionality» into practice even before the term had reached the Federal Republic and its universities. In this way, the term «queer» also came to us faster than for others. 

Many more discussions, workshops, and networking followed, placing GLADT at the intersection of the fight against racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism and other forms of discrimination. GLADT became a major player in Berlin – and beyond. The uncomfortable role of standing between exclusions in the dominant society and exclusions, for example, from the communities of immigrants, was turned around and used as resources insteadt.

The founding of the Immigration Council of Berlin, which at the time the only nationwide confederation of immigrant organizations (2004), the symposium «Homophobia in an Immigration Society» (2008), as well as the participation in the initiatives of the State of Berlin for the promotion of sexual and gender diversity, or the Immigration Council’s «Round Table Against Homophobia», the project «Non-discriminatory Scenes for All», where racism, sexism, transphobia, and ableism in the queer context have been and are still being worked on, making GLADT prominent within debates in the majority society, in the Queer scenes and in the immigrants communities, black communities and people of color.

  • Self and mutual strengthening; Appreciation and acceptance; the building of networks and collective enforcement of political interests; gaining and increasing the ability to act, dealing actively with problems; promotion of solidary forms of self-determination, self-organization, and self-help.

  • We are interested in positions and experiences of people who do not belong to the dominant culture; we intervene in queer politics, patriarchy- and discourses critical against racism; we focus on the perspectives of Black LGBTIQ and LGBTIQ of Color – also on intersecting experiences with other forms of discrimination; we stand in solidary on an international level with self-organized groups, which campaign for more awareness against discrimination.

  • We position ourselves clearly with the people who are discriminated against; we position ourselves with people who want to act against discrimination; we position ourselves for reflection processes; we position ourselves as critical of social issues and of authority.

  • We assist in supporting self-help and self-empowerment; we help to develop strategies to deal with various life situations; we offer psychosocial support against stress and overburdening, pressure or exclusion; we help with the practical steps in Berlin when it comes to orienting yourself in the city and finding your way around a wide variety of sources and support systems.

  • GLADT is not connected to political, ideological or religious parties. The association works independently of the state or other bodies, the contents of its work are determined by its members. In order to achieve our goals, we work together in networks with initiatives, organizations, counseling centers, projects, and individuals – for example, we are members of the Migration Council Berlin and the Turkish Confederation in Berlin-Brandenburg.

  • Our members and our team of employees have different origins and qualifications themselves so that we can provide offers such as consultation in several languages. These include Turkish, Arabic, English, Farsi, French, Hebrew, Urdu and Punjabi. If necessary, we can also offer translation into other languages.

  • We are lesbian, we are gay, we are trans*, we are bisexual, we are pansexual, we are intersex. We live queerly. But there is no pressure from GLADT to live under a specific identity model or to use a specific label for one’s own lifestyle. Our understanding of “queer” allows the merging of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations and their overlap with origins, languages, skin colors, religious and philosophical beliefs, disabilities, chronic illnesses, ages, class relations, eating habits, to be recognized.

News

News overview

completed Projects

Projects overview