Manuela Kay

Kay worked from the first day of its founding (March 1987) until February 1991 as the editor and presenter of the first Berlin private Radio Station, Radio 100, including the gay-lesbian show ‘Eldoradio’. She is co-author and film producer of numerous video films on the theme of lesbian sexuality and feminist pornography.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2932249/|title=Manuela Kay|website=IMDb|access-date=15 December 2017}}

In 1992 and 1994, she released the films ‘Du Darfst’ (engl. title “Truth or Dare“) and ‘Airport’.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gratis-in-berlin.de/dauerbrenner/15-leute-treffen/2018705-airport-1994-ein-kleiner-lesbenporno-und-seine-grossen-folgen|title=Gratis in Berlin - Airport 1994 – ein kleiner Lesbenporno und seine großen Folgen|website=www.gratis-in-berlin.de|language=de-de|access-date=15 December 2017}} The 33-minute, low budget film ‘Airport’ is regarded as the first German lesbian porno and remains to this day a milestone in the history of pornography.Oslo Gay & Lesbian Film Festiva 2006l: How to make lesbian porn? http://www.novare.no/kff/dagsplan/pdf/lesbian%20porn.pdf

After working as a freelance journalist, author and presenter, she worked from 1996 until 2005 as the editor-in-chief of Berlin's queer city magazine, Siegessäule published then by Jackwerth publishing company. Kay played a decisive role in the redevelopment of the magazine from a gay male publication to a gay-lesbian and ultimately queer inclusive content.{{Cite web|url=https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/156-fighting-uphill-uncovering-lesbians-in-germany-s-queer-community|title=Fighting Uphill: Uncovering Lesbians in Germany's Queer Community by Bill Blaustein, Janine Neumann {{!}} Humanity in Action|website=Humanity In Action|language=en|access-date=15 March 2018}} In 2003, she planned and conceived{{Cite web|url=https://www.l-mag.de/ueber-uns.html|title=L-MAG - Das Magazin für Lesben - Über Uns|last=Lesben|first=L-MAG – Das Magazin für|website=www.l-mag.de|access-date=15 December 2017}} the lesbian magazine, the L-MAG and was co-editor in-chief with Peter Polzer at its inception.{{Cite news|url=http://www.exberliner.com/features/zeitgeist/queer-in-the-city/|title=Queer in the city|last=Johnson|first=Joey Hansom, Peer Jon Ørsted, Walter Crasshole, Ava|date=19 June 2015|work=EXBERLINER.com|access-date=15 March 2018|language=en-us}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/156-fighting-uphill-uncovering-lesbians-in-germany-s-queer-community|title=Fighting Uphill: Uncovering Lesbians in Germany's Queer Community by Bill Blaustein, Janine Neumann {{!}} Humanity in Action|website=Humanity In Action|language=en|access-date=15 March 2018}}

From 1995 to 2005, she worked at Berlin's International Film Festival in the Panorama section and the queer film prize, the Teddy Award. She is renowned within European (e.g. Kyiv, Turin, Bilbao, Barcelona, Bern, Lisbon, Prague) and international Film Festivals as a jury member and speaker.

Kay co-curated the exhibition ‘Nobody is Perfect – Lesbian and Gay Film Idols’ with Wolfgang Theis and Maria Schmidt (20 January – 11 April 1999) in Berlin's Schwules* Museum (Gay* Museum) and conducted numerous guided tours throughout the duration of the exhibition.{{Cite web|url=http://www.schwulesmuseum.de/ausstellungen/archives/1999/view/nobody-is-perfect-filmidole-von-lesben-und-schwulen/|title=Nobody is perfect - Filmidole von Lesben und Schwulen {{!}} Schwules Museum*|last=Museum*|first=Schwules|website=www.schwulesmuseum.de|language=de|access-date=15 December 2017}}

Since 2007, she has been working as the curator and a team member of the organising committee of the Pornfilmfestival Berlin.

In 2012, the Jackwerth publishing company was dissolved and sold. Manuela Kay and her colleague of many years, Gudrun Fertig, founded the Special Media SDL GmbH publishing house and took over the Siegessäule and L-MAG and DU&ICH in 2012. Kay and Fertig become directors and majority shareholders of the above-mentioned publications.

Kay's journalistic focus lies in the realm of lesbian culture, sexuality, film and international issues.

Manuela Kay identifies as a radical feminist and is committed to lesbian visibility, Feminism and LGBT Rights in general.

For the tenth anniversary of L-MAG in 2013, Kay realised a lifelong dream and initiated Berlin's inaugural Dyke* March, based on the USA's model.{{Cite news|url=https://dykemarchberlin.com/2013-2/|title=2013 – Wie alles anfing|date=28 March 2016|work=21. Juli 2017|access-date=15 December 2017|language=de-DE}} Since then, other German cities have followed suit: Cologne (2015),{{Cite web|url=http://www.dykemarchcologne.de/|title=DYKE* MARCH COLOGNE|website=DYKE* MARCH COLOGNE|language=de-DE|access-date=15 December 2017}} Hamburg (2016){{Cite web|url=http://www.intervention-hamburg.de/DykeMarch|title=First Hamburger Dyke March - Intervention e.V.|website=www.intervention-hamburg.de|language=de|access-date=15 December 2017}} and the Dyke* March in Heidelberg in 2017,{{Cite web|url=http://dykemarchrheinneckar.de/|title=Dykemarch Rhein-Neckar {{!}} Freitag, 10. August 2018 um 19 Uhr in Heidelberg, Universitätsplatz|website=dykemarchrheinneckar.de|language=de-DE|access-date=15 December 2017}} with a demonstration for Lesbian Visibility, which took place the night before the Pride March.

In 2013, Kay was the recipient of the IGLTA (International Gay Lesbian Travel Association) Travel Writer Award.

In 2015, Manuela Kay and Gudrun Fertig were awarded the Augsburg-Heymann Prize. Since 2009, this annual award honours work by courageous lesbians LAG Lesbians in NRW (a network of lesbian groups in the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen) towards the Advancement and Visibility of Lesbian Women.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lesben-nrw.de/augspurg-heymann-preis-2015-an-manuela-kay-und-gudrun-fertig-verliehen/|title=Augspurg-Heymann-Preis 2015 an Manuela Kay und Gudrun Fertig verliehen|website=www.lesben-nrw.de|language=de-DE|access-date=15 December 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.siegessaeule.de/no_cache/newscomments/article/2102-feierliche-verleihung-an-manuela-kay-und-gudrun-fertig.html|title=Feierliche Verleihung an Manuela Kay und Gudrun Fertig|website=www.siegessaeule.de|access-date=15 December 2017}}

• Du Darfst (You May) (1992)
• Latex Hearts (1993)
• Airport (1994)
• Co-Producer and Co-Director of Short Film Collection Fucking Different XXX (2011){{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2932249/|title=Manuela Kay|website=IMDb|access-date=15 March 2018}}

• Come Better. The Sex Book for Lesbians. (Schöner Kommen: Das Sexbuch für Lesben). Berlin: Querverlag. 5th Edition. 2000. {{ISBN|978-3-89656-047-6}}
• I Take this Love for Myself: Lesbian Guidebook. (Diese Liebe Nehm' Ich Mir: Der Lesben-Ratgeber). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2001. {{ISBN|3-499-61180-5}}
• (with Axel Schock) Out im Kino! – the Lesbian/Gay Film Dictionary (Out im Kino!: Das Lesbisch-Schwule Filmlexikon). Berlin: Querverlag, 2003. {{ISBN|3-89656-090-5}}
• Translation: The L-Word: Wilkommen in Unserer Welt. Berlin: Querverlag, 2006. {{ISBN|3-89656-131-6}}

• Important Things to know about Berlin Lesbians. Micha Schulze (Ed.): Homopolis. Gay Berlin. Jackwerth Verlag Berlin and Cologne 1997. {{ISBN|3-932117-33-6}}
• Warm Beer and Cold Stares. In:Traude Bührmann (Ed.): Lesbian Berlin: City Guide. Orlanda Frauenverlag (Orlanda Women's Press). Berlin 2002. (1999). {{ISBN|978-3-929823-59-2}}
• On the Hunt – Every Woman for Herself. In Joachim Braun & Beate Martin: Mixed Feelings. A Lesbian Reader for Sexual Orientation. Roror/Rowohlt. Hamburg 2001. {{ISBN|978-3-499-60835-3}}
• The Unerotic Whiff of Unleaded Petrol. In Detlef Grumbach (Ed.): Over the Rainbow. A Christopher Street Day (CSD) Reader. Männerschwarm Press. Hamburg 2001. {{ISBN|978-3-928983-94-5}}
• The Police are Shit. In Lisa Kuppler (Ed.): Queer Crime: Lesbian/Gay Crime Histories. Querverlag. Berlin 2002. {{ISBN|978-3-89656-076-6}}
• Women from Neukölln Fuck Better. In Jörg Sundermeier/ Sarah Diel/ Werner Labisch (Eds) Neukölln Book. Verbrecher Press. Berlin 2003. {{ISBN|978-3-935843-28-7}}
• Tantalising Conversations about Excruciating Sex - SM. In Dennert, Leidinger, Rauchut (Eds): On the Move – 100 Years of Lesbian Politics, Culture and History. Querverlag. Berlin 2007. {{ISBN|978-3-89656-148-0}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.l-mag.de/ L.Mag homepage]
• Manuela Kay, [http://www.taz.de/1/archiv/archiv/?dig=2006/03/04/a0002 "Ein Käfig voller Narben"] ("A Cage Full of Scars" – article on LGBT film in Europe, German), Tageszeitung 4 March 2006
• Manuela Kay, [http://www.taz.de/?id=archivseite&dig=2006/10/14/a0254 "Unvermitteltes Poppen: Ein Pornofilm ist Kein Liebesfilm"] ("Unmediated Screwing: A Porn Film is not a Love Film" – German), Tageszeitung 14 October 2006
• [http://d-nb.info/gnd/122002881 Manuela Kay] in the German National Library catalogue
• {{IMDb name|2932249}}

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Category:1964 births

Category:Living people

Category:German journalists

Category:German women journalists

Category:German lesbian writers

Category:Writers from Berlin

Category:German LGBTQ journalists

Category:20th-century German LGBTQ people

Category:21st-century German LGBTQ people