User:Exilexi/ViennaLGBT

Geography
The Naschmarkt area in Vienna, that connects the 4th and the 6th district of the city, is a gay village. In this area are one can find mainly gay bars, clubs and gay saunas. The most popular gay spots are Café Willendorf, Café Savoy, Village Bar or Mango Bar.

Vienna stands up for LGTIQ+ rights, it remains at the forefront of LGBTIQ+ anti-discrimination since 2004, when an anti-discrimination mileston was set. The city has introduced rainbow crossings, rainbow banches, the flagging of public buildings and pedestrian crossing symbols. In 2015, the city of Vienna introduced traffic lights with same-sex couples before hosting the Eurovision Song Contest that year, which attracted media attention internationally. Vienna also celebrates Rainbow Parade on June 11.

Demographics
According to some estimates, around 5-10% of Vienna's population identify as LGBT+ (90.000 to 180.000 people). Vienna is also considered Austria's queer capital. The official website of Vienna city has a guide for LGBT+ visitors with detailed information about the city's queer and queer-friendly spaces.

Vienna also hosted EuroPride in 2001 and in 2019. The latter was attended by an estimated 500.000 people.

Queerphobia in Vienna
Queerphobia in Vienna was quite prominent years ago due to laws related to the criminalisation of homosexuality. Nowadays, Vienna can be considered as a relatively safe city for Queer people in Europe. In 1998 the city of Vienna established the viennese Anti-discrimination Unit for Gay, Lesbian and transgender issues. The purpose was to bring up LGBTQIA+ topics into all the different levels of administration but also to mainstream LGBTIQ in the viennese scene. However, it did not prevent a series of homophobic and queerphobic attacks (between 2015 and 2020). The Austrian Green MEP Ulrike Lunacek was a victim of an acid attack during a Pride parade in Vienna. And in 2015 a lesbian couple was thrown out of Pruckel Cafe for kissing in public, Which led to a protest in which over 1000 people attended.

City politics
Vienna has traditionally been more progressive than the rest of Austria. Some first anti-discrimination laws were passed in 1996 and 1997, and activism already had garnered the support of then-mayor Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner as early as 1982, when homosexuality was still criminalized widely in the country.

In December 2014, Vienna joined the Rainbow Cities Network by declaring itself a Human Rights City. Most efforts by the city against queerphobia are led by the Viennese Antidiscrimination Unit for lesbian, gay, transgender and intersex issues (WASt), which was founded in 1998. These efforts are organised on a five-year action plan basis.

In 2016, the city of Vienna started handing out honorary awards to LGBT activists: Helmut Graupner received the Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um das Land Wien award in 2016.

The city has a memorial for gay concentration camp survivors, most notably Josef Kohout, situated in Heinz-Heger-Park. There is also a monument to the victims of persecution of homosexuals in the Nazi era in Ressel Park.

Vienna became a fast-track city in the fight against HIV/AIDS in June 2017.

Institutions and Media
There are many queer insitutions and media in Vienna focused on LGBTQIA+ community.

LGBT Associations
HOSI Wien (Homosexual Initiative Vienna) is the oldest Austrian Lesbian and Gay organization which was founded in 1979 and is based in Vienna. They work on lesbian and gay issues through political lobbying as well offering support to lesbians and gays through the coming out process and in case of discrimination.

TransX is an Austrian organization located in Vienna which focuses on the rights of trans people and who understand transitioning as fluid. They organize excursions, workshops, festivals and work on political actions and legal lobbying. The organization also operates on special-interest-issues with the goal of creating programs which appeal to everyone within the community. Within their political and legal activism, the organization started a number of initiatives. For example, the First European Transgender council on Civil and Political Rights and a petition for a free chose of one's first name, which was signed by more than three thousand people.

FAmOS Rainbow Families is an association that supports, represents the interests of families and children. It helps create networks of families within the Austrian Rainbow concept, which includes all people who identify with the LGBTQIA+ movement. They work on networking, raising awareness in society, and compliance with equal rights. Also, they organise meetings to share topics related to fertility, fears, pregnancy, bureaucratic support, etc. They founded the Network of European Associations of LGBT Families (NELFA) and are members of the International Association of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans and Intersexuals (ILGA Europe). Additionally, they organized the International Day of Family Equality 2022, the publication of a commemorative magazine of its 10 years. They have created a self-help group for "trans and trans" parents who want to have children, have organized different counselling and support workshops.

Health institutions
Even if in Vienna evryone has the same legal right to access healthcare, some people might still face discriminations when it commes to access to care. In order to fight against that, some associations have been created to give access to healthcare for LGBT peole.


 * AIDS-Hilfe, a non-profit association that seeks to reduce the number oh HIV infections and to help infected people to live with the diseases.
 * Diversity Care Wien, a support organization for people with HIV that provide home-car for older and disabled people. This association is recognized by the Vienna Social Fund, and benefits from facilities provided by the City of Vienna.
 * Schalk und Pichler, a medical office specialized in fighting HIV and other STI that are more common in homosexuals communities.

Media
Vangardist is a progressive queer magazine which features queer people and talks about current issues related to LGBTQIA+ community. In 2015, a special HIV edition was published aimed at raising awareness about the virus. In order to help break the stigma surrounding HIV,the ink used to print the magazine was mixed with blood pigments of three HIV positive blood donors. The aim was to convey that it is as safe to make physical contact with an HIV+ person as it is to touch that magazine edition. The edition managed to reach more than 40 million people through media coverage and the idea won many prestigious international awards.