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.
The people in this picture are AI-generated.