update being queer in Berlin

Queer experiences in Berlin.
Still en route to Prague.
My last night in Berlin was amazing. I met a friend of a friend named Sean at the Silverfutur, and very VERY queer bar for those outside the heteronormative world and their friends. My dad came with me to check out the place and have a beer with me, then he headed back to the hotel to get some rest while I decided to stay up ALL night, thinking I would sleep on the 5 hour train ride to Prague. As sleepy as I am, I still can’t sleep.
So, Sean, being the awesome tour guide he is, took me to a couple places for queers. One was a bar called Ficken. Yeah, it does sound like a familiar word in English, doesn’t it? Basically, this place is where the mens cruise each other and meet in the dark basement underneath the dance floor and bar to “make friends.” I honestly find this sort of culture really interesting. There was no real monitoring of the boys down stairs, although there were signs about wearing condoms, from what I could understand, and you could barely see what was going on, which in some cases was preferable. Anyway, was glad to see it and now I have seen the comparison to Eros, which gives me a greater understanding of where these kind of establishments came from.
Next, we reluctantly went to the Bad Girls Club, which was mostly for the queer ladies, but included transmen and friends. Neither Sean nor I tend to go to women’s type events, but he knew some people there and really liked the DJ, so we went. It was awesome. Seriously. We got to play roulette for free drinks. We actually only one a beer, and the chips were free, but still, it made the club that much more fun. Not to mention, the music was good and the people were rad.
I already want to go back, even just to find out more about the Berliner queer community, which is pretty larger. Oh, and fyi, the healthcare system in Berlin covers trans medicine, even surgery. Apparently, some people in the trans community find ways of gaining citizenship so that they can afford to transition in various ways. Rad. Right? Oh that, and there’s gay marriage. All this and really attractive people. I’m so down with that.
Oh and p.s., you can totally drink beer anywhere, even on the tube! So much awesomeness.