Towards the end of the 1980s , just before the collapse of the iron curtain , the East German Government opened a state-owned gay disco in Berlin . On 11 August 1987 , the East German Supreme Court affirmed that '' " homosexuality , just like heterosexuality , represents a variant of sexual behavior . Homosexual people do therefore not stand outside socialist society , and the civil rights are warranted to them exactly as to all other citizens " . '' In 1988 , the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden commissioned the state-owned film studio , DEFA , to make the documentary film Die andere Liebe ( '' The Other Love '' ) . It was the first DEFA film about homosexuality and its aim was to convey official state acceptance . In 1989 , the German Hygiene Museum also commissioned DEFA to make the GDR 's only HIV/AIDS prevention documentary , Liebe ohne Angst ( '' Love Without Fear '' ) . This did not focus on homosexuality directly but pointed out that AIDS was not a " gay disease " . The 1989 DEFA produced film Coming Out , directed by Heiner Carow , tells the story of an East German man coming to accept his homosexuality , with much of it shot in East Berlin gay bars . It was the only East German feature film on the theme of same-sex desire ever produced . It won a number of awards including a Silver Bear and Teddy Award at 40th Berlin International Film Festival , and awards at the National Feature Film Festival of the GDR
40th Berlin International Film Festival
40th Berlin International Film Festival
LGBT rights in Germany