Else & Ilse | LGBTIQ+ adventurers

We love movies with older people! They show that we can be happy when we are older and we love the idea of growing old together. And even if people don’t have anyone while growing old, it’s never too late to find someone. And, maybe most importantly, these movies star old(er) actors and particularly actresses who so often aren’t engaged anymore—even though they experienced so much in their lives. As actresses and as protagonists. Here are a few of our favorite movies: Something’s Gotta Give (2003) We love Diane Keaton! In this movie, her character continuously changes and develops. She is self-confident and comfortable in her body and her life. The movie illustrates that we can love and find love in every phase of our life. This movie tells a wonderfully amusing story about love later in life. The Leisure Seeker (2017) A movie about a married couple who spent their entire lives with each other—including all the ups and downs. To reminisce about their shared life, they go on their last

Our city's Pride parade is one of our favorite festivals each year. We can celebrate our love, be proud of our sexuality, (re)connect with old friends, get to know new people. So when all pride parades had to be canceled due to COVID-19, we understood the decision, but it also made us incredibly sad. Yet, our parade wasn't canceled, but modified and postponed to October 11 and thereby coincided with the National Coming Out Day that was originally celebrated in the US, but nowadays around the world. We assume the organizers hoped for an end of the pandemic—as so many of us did. The second wave of the pandemic currently intensifies and we weren't sure if our Pride would really happen this year. But it did. We didn't have parade floats and masses of local, national, and international participants. Instead, we had a physically distanced bicycle parade in which everyone of us participated. Starting from four different locations, hundreds of queer people demonstrated LGBTQ+ v

Yes! Of course we are friends. We are even best friends. We know almost everything about each other. We spend more time with each other than anyone else. We enjoy each other’s company. We talk for hours, we laugh about the most stupid jokes (and some good ones as well). We can be who we really are—in the joyful moments as well as in the sad or stressed ones. We live together.  But we are so much more than what you are assuming. We also sleep in the same bed. We love each other—not platonically, but romantically. We share more with each other than we would with friends—however close we are with them. When we are holding hands, we don’t do so as friends, but as partners and lovers. And we certainly don’t kiss each other as friends. So while we would appreciate when people would accept displays of affection as natural and shareable with everyone, this is probably not the reason why people think that we are not a couple. Presenting as rather femme, we are too easily mistaken as heterosexua