Manuela Kay
Manuela Kay, born 2 April 1964 in West Berlin, West Germany, is a German journalist, author and publisher. She began her career at the first Berlin private radio station, Radio 100, in 1987 and hosted the gay‑lesbian show Eldoradio until 1991. She later made films about lesbian sexuality and feminism, including Airport (1994), which is considered the first German lesbian porn film and a milestone in that field.
From 1996 to 2005 she was editor‑in‑chief of Berlin’s queer magazine Siegessäule, helping it become more inclusive of lesbian and queer content. In 2003 she helped plan and launch the lesbian magazine L‑MAG and served as co‑editor‑in‑chief. She also worked at Berlin’s International Film Festival in the Panorama section and with the Teddy Award between 1995 and 2005, and she has served as a juror and speaker at many European and international film festivals.
Kay co‑curated the exhibition Nobody is Perfect – Lesbian and Gay Film Idols in 1999 at Berlin’s Schwules Museum and has been involved with the Pornfilmfestival Berlin since 2007 as curator and organizing team member. After the publishing company Jack Werth ended in 2012, she and Gudrun Fertig started Special Media SDL GmbH and took over Siegessäule, L‑MAG and DU&ICH.
Her work focuses on lesbian culture, sexuality, film and international issues. She identifies as a radical feminist and advocates lesbian visibility and LGBT rights. In 2013 she started Berlin’s Dyke March for lesbian visibility, a model later adopted by other German cities. She has received awards such as the IGLTA Travel Writer Award (2013) and the Augsburg‑Heymann Prize (2015).
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 09:43 (CET).