Café [iks]

About

Café [iks] is the cafe of Aidshilfe Essen on Varnhorststraße, and one of the few places in the city where queer people meet over a table rather than at a bar. It was set up as a cafe by and for people living with HIV, and it is open to anyone; rainbow families with children are named as welcome.

The kitchen does breakfast, a lunch that changes daily, home-made cake, snacks and drinks. A social worker is on site, and up to sixteen people from a job orientation programme work in the cafe under supervision.

In the evenings the rooms belong to queer self-help and community groups, among them a group for gay and bisexual men and one for gay fathers. The same building holds the counselling service and the other work of Aidshilfe Essen.