Increasing demand: Queere consultations in the Werra-Meißner district are booming!

Increasing demand: Queere consultations in the Werra-Meißner district are booming!

Eschwege, Deutschland - The demand for queer advisory services in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis has risen sharply in recent months. This is particularly evident from the more frequent inquiries from the AWO advice center for pregnancy, family and sexuality in Eschwege, where the head Maria Franke also offers support on queer topics. "We have found that schools and institutions are always more proactive," said Franke. The advice center not only offers pregnancy conflict advice, but also a variety of other offers, including sex education for children and adolescents, workshops for specialists and general advice for couples.

There is special attention on the queer offers, which include, for example, accompanying the coming-out, legal questions about the self-determination law and support for physical changes during hormone treatments. These topics are of central importance, since many LGBTQ people are confronted with specific challenges such as discrimination, legal questions and psychological stress. According to a report by prideplanet.de, 30% of LGBTQ users determine discrimination in the workplace, and over 50% of transgender people experience them in the healthcare system.

support and exchange for the queer youth

Another important point is the queer youth club, which takes place every Thursday at the Juz in Bad Sooden-Allendorf. Here young people can meet, exchange and get to know each other - a room that is also open to Allies. Mothers and fathers are encouraged to counter their children, especially when it comes to topics such as the outing. Maria Franke emphasizes the need to talk about support options for queer children and recommends special advice centers for parents who want support in this area

The AWO advice center is directed by a competent team consisting of five people who also advises in Arabic and Kurdish. This multilingualism increases the accessibility of the offers and helps those affected to be better addressed. In order to meet the needs of the LGBTQ community, further developments in the advisory services are planned for the future, which shows that "there is something" and there is an intensive interest.

the need for more contact points

The increase in inquiries illustrates the urgency to create more specialized and low-threshold contact points in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis. For many LGBTQ people, the use of advisory services is of crucial importance in order to improve the quality of life and to better manage the challenges with which they are confronted. Statistics show that the suicide rate in transgender youth is about four times higher than with their Cisgender peers, another reason why it is important to offer support in good time.

The numbers of discrimination and mental health are alarming and are constantly observed. The EU's third LGBTI survey has shown that discrimination and violent experiences are everyday life for many people in the LGBTQ community, which makes the need for advisory services even clearer. In this context, the reporting of the Lesbian and Gay Association of Germany (LSVD) is pointed out, which deals intensively with experiences of discrimination and underlines the importance of specialized support offers.

Overall, it can be seen that the range of queer consulting services in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis is becoming increasingly important. The increase in demand is not only a sign of growing sensitization within society, but also for the need for more acceptance and support for LGBTQ people. In order to be able to effectively counter the challenges, it is necessary that both the advisory services are extensively expanded and the social perception of queer topics is further sharpened.