Queerreferat an den Aachener Hochschulen e.V.

A lovely place for disabled and international queers to hang out with like minded, friendly people, make new connections, and just chill. A wonderful little safe space, and has a ramp to make the interior accessible for those with mobility aids!

I like to go there. Fidget toys, sofas and nice people.

This is such a nice place to socialize and hang out. 🥰 - thank you for your service to the students and the whole community. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Disclaimer: since this is a non profit, social organization, my rating and review only reflects my specific experience of the specific event that I attended, and (hopefully) not their organization or beliefs as a whole. I am new to Aachen and finding it really hard to make friends. I missed all the social events hosted by the university and felt really behind as far as socializing is concerned. So I thought I'd go to a queer space for 2 reasons: 1) to make friends who have their queerness in common with me And 2) to be in a queer safe space for the first time in my life, which we don't have many of where I come from I decided to go to Queereferat because it has a high rating on google reviews, it was age appropriate for university students and the website had a lot of English so I assumed German wouldn't be a necessity. I was wrong. I went for the Wednesday Coffee event with a friend, which is apparently a weekly event. The website specified that this was a great way to meet new friends and socialize. When we went in they were still setting up, so I asked one person (who was helping set up, so not some random guest) if they needed any help. Their response ? "ask someone else , how am I supposed to know". I don't know if this is a cultural german coldness or if that person just has no sense of how to talk to people. Then the event started. It was the most awkward 1 hour of my life. People came in. A lot of people. Everyone gabbed in german and kind of stuck to their own little cliques. Forget socializing with me and my friend who cant speak their language, they didn't seem to even socialize with each other. They had pre-made groups and just stuck to that. Why not just stay at home if you're not going to talk to new people? We mostly just sat in our corner and felt invisible. No one said hello, no one smiled...and after my initial interaction I didn't feel comfortable talking to anyone . Thank God an organizer gave a speech in english so i knew i had come to the correct event. For a room filled with rainbows, it was extremely unwelcoming..almost like I gatecrashed into someone's private gathering. There was just one girl, also a non EU student,that we had some conversation with. After a torturous one hour of nibbling on cookies and staring at people who had their backs turned or were clustered in groups, we both decided to go home. On the walk back, it really stuck with me and I would be lying if I said I wasn't hurt. I had expected atleast a bit warmer reception in a place that advertised itself as a queer space, that too for young people.i even went to the extent of wondering if it was a race thing....I didn't see any other brown people there. Would they be as standoffish if I were a white , blonde American or Australian who only spoke English? I have no clue. To conclude, I'm not going to tell you not to go. Go and make your own assessment of the space. But don't go with high expectations. I for one know that I won't be going to any gay spaces atleast in germany. I have already been ostracized enough by straight people, I don't need to relive the experience.

Ok