T*räumchen Kassel

In the location's words:

The history of its origins

T*räumchen Kassel is a project of AIDS-Hilfe Kassel, which was launched on 01.01.2020. AIDS-Hilfe Kassel has been working on the topic of sexual and gender diversity for several years, including with Trans*Beratung Kassel, the LGBT*IQ Nordhessen network office and SCHLAU Kassel. With T*räumchen Kassel, there is now a service that supports the needs and concerns of young queer people, especially trans* and non-binary people.

In our understanding, the term queer includes all people who consider their own gender identity and/or sexual/romantic orientation to be outside the social norm. We have placed the focus on young trans* and non-binary people. We understand both trans* and non-binary as collective and generic terms for a wide variety of gender identities. By "trans*" we mean people whose gender does not or only partially correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth. By "non-binary" we mean people who do not or do not exclusively identify with an existing binary gender (woman or man).

Our goals/concerns

• Creating a (protective) space for young queers
• Empowerment and self-empowerment of young queers by supporting their personal development and strengthening their psychological stability
• Strengthening the right to gender self-determination and the free development of gender identity
• Increasing the visibility of the concerns and needs of young queers
• Promoting social acceptance of the diversity of gender identities and reducing discrimination and stigmatization towards queer people
• Strengthening the social environment of young queers through education and awareness-raising on the topic of gender diversity
• Creation of a central community-based contact point for the whole of North Hesse through cooperation with other specialist agencies and youth facilities

Self-image

We offer a safe space in which issues can be addressed and solutions developed confidentially (anonymously if desired) and in peace. We treat each individual's sense of identity and their own physicality with respect and acceptance.

We do not see trans* as an illness or disorder, but rather recognize the diverse ways of expressing, being and feeling gender. This means that everyone should be able to define their own gender - regardless of psychiatric diagnoses and/or judicial decisions. It is important to us to deal sensitively with the respective individual and specific life situations and not to repeat experiences of taboos, discrimination or exclusion. The approach of lifeworld acceptance is an important foundation of our work - not only in relation to gender identity or gender self-image.

This content has been machine translated.