Gegen Berlin – A Loopy Night time Out at Equipment Kat’s Queer Get together
It should’ve been simply after 3, possibly 4am. It wasn’t very darkish out, however that’s typical for a summer time night time in Berlin. Out of the U-Bahn station, we made our method as much as the doorway of the Equipment Kat Membership, Berlin’s most well-known intercourse membership. We have been a bunch of two guys and two ladies, and solely at a 50 % queer ratio. The social gathering, Gegen, takes place each two months and is usually considered Equipment Kat’s queerest intercourse social gathering — although, admittedly, the night time is much much less sexual than different membership nights at Equipment Kat. (Go on a Saturday and you may see for your self!)
Two guys forward of us within the brief queue have been turned away. I wasn’t frightened; I used to be nonetheless working on that prime you’ll be able to solely get from an evening out dancing with associates. We’d come from the indie membership night time at SchwuZ the place I’d efficiently scored a younger man’s quantity. We have been drunk and sexy, able to proceed our night time of debauchery.
Earlier than we’d even gotten to the door, I had my shirt off—able to strip additional as wanted. The best way the door coverage at Equipment Kat works is, in the event that they don’t allow you to in, simply take away extra clothes till they are saying “okay.” My different associates have been stripping, too—her boobs coming out of her bra and sufficient tattoos between the 4 of us to say a little bit of that Berlin authenticity.
Strolling inside, we skipped the coat examine (the place much more folks have been stripping and/or turning into harnesses or different mild fetish gear). We made our well past the crowds huddled across the bogs (you realize what meaning) and right into a room with a throbbing crowd transferring to a pulsing beat.
I used to be nearly bare at this level, and as we acquired deeper into the gang and to the entrance of the stage, we’d all stripped ourselves of as many layers as we might — right down to our underwear, dancing and touching and transferring. And sweating. So, so, a lot sweat.
Gegen’s theme centres across the German translation for the phrase — it could imply each “in opposition to” and “round.” The social gathering’s premise: “We don’t want to design a celebration simply to offer you a secure area and safety. We’re not promoting you the chance to be ‘queer’ for one night time. We need to expose you to your personal fears and pleasures by pushing you to know how your personal energy mechanisms are produced. This is the reason we invite you to be Gegen by performing your psychosis, by being the enemy of your self, by considering and being out of b/order and by destroying each rational thought.”
The social gathering embodies the whole lot that’s great about Berlin’s nightlife. It’s a queer social gathering, however not everybody’s homosexual. Some individuals are bare, others are carrying fetish gear. Younger or outdated, skinny or fats, homosexual, queer, straight — it simply doesn’t matter. And nobody cares. There’s no clear definition on what you ought to be carrying or what you ought to be doing. You’re there for you. It’s an empowering feeling — to be so open and free and trusting with strangers.
In fact there’s a darkish room within the membership, too. And a basemen, the place you’ll inevitably discover some group motion — guys with guys with ladies with ladies with guys. The social gathering’s sexual solely if you’d like it to be, however that’s what makes it so particular. It’s a enjoyable membership night time, whether or not for intercourse, for the music or for the crowds. Choose your taste.
Maybe predictably, I bumped into quite a lot of acquainted faces on the membership: that Grindr hookup from the week earlier than, somebody who acknowledged me from the café I’m all the time working at, a good friend of a good friend. There was the man I went on a date with 4 years earlier. With the fixed flux of individuals transferring between the rooms and one another, the area is sort of conducive to assembly folks (whether or not you need to or not). And the music, it’s among the finest. The Gegen DJs appeal to their very own crowds as a lot because the Equipment Kat spectacle.
Equipment Kat is a wierd membership, with a maze of rooms and curtains hiding soiled deeds, some components indoors, others open air. The loos get a variety of in-and-out motion with teams within the stalls. However maybe its most iconic function is the decent-sized swimming pool in an outside courtyard. Whereas the music went on all night time, we ultimately made our method to the sting of the pool, ingesting low cost beers and making new associates.
As soon as 8am rolled round, and the summer time sunshine began burning down on our half-naked our bodies, we left the membership for a make-shift breakfast at a grocery retailer. Turning down a secret rave in a close-by forest with a bunch of French college students, I jumped in a taxi and headed house, already anxious for the subsequent social gathering.
Gegen Berlin takes place on a Friday, often on the very begin of the month, each two months. Discover extra nightlife ideas in my information to Berlin. Header photograph courtesy of Gegen Berlin. An earlier model of this text first appeared on DailyXtra—one in all Canada’s largest queer publication.
