Lambda Youth Network

Jugendnetzwerk Lambda e.V. — commonly known as Lambda Bund — is a nationwide German youth association for lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, trans, non-binary, intersex and queer young people. It was founded in Berlin in March 1990, emerging from an initiative that had existed since November 1989, shortly before the first free Volkskammer elections in the GDR. Its original aim was to represent young lesbians and gay men and their meeting places and groups at the Central Round Table of Youth, since at that time neither in the GDR nor in West Germany was there a youth association explicitly representing the interests of gay, lesbian and bisexual young people. Lambda was admitted to the Central Round Table of Youth on 14 February 1990, from which the Demokratischer Jugendbund (DJB) emerged on 17 March 1990. The association is federally structured. The federal association Lambda e.V. handles administrative tasks, promotes cooperation among the state associations, and offers supra-regional youth encounters and workshops. It also publishes the quarterly magazine out! and operates the Lambda Space platform. On-the-ground work is primarily carried by the state associations. Lambda supports local youth groups and initiatives for queer young people, offering workshops and training — in particular the Jugendleitercard qualification — and advising on the founding of new youth groups. Regional associations organise national and international youth encounters, camps, educational trips, awareness projects and other youth education offerings. In Berlin, Lambda runs a queer youth centre. Lambda is the sponsor of the Queersupport project, which offers online peer counselling and specialist counselling via email, chat and video call. Trained young people advise other young people online, and young people lead regular group meetings focused on empowerment. Specialist counselling provides psychosocial advice from qualified professionals, including counselling under the Self-Determination Act. The Lambda Peersupport replaced the In & Out service, which until 2022 offered peer-to-peer email and chat counselling in cooperation with the state association Lambda:bb. Since December 2025 Lambda has operated Lambda Space, which it describes as a digital youth centre — a social network similar to the dbna service that was discontinued shortly before. According to its brochure, Lambda aims to offer a more accessible, low-threshold and anonymous entry point into the infrastructure of queer youth welfare. Since 2007 the association has published the quarterly magazine out!. It also runs various media projects, including podcasts such as lambda queercast, #LambdaTalk, Lambda Kaffeeklatsch and the Queere Identitäten podcast, as well as a TikTok project by Lambda Bayern. Once a year Lambda Bayern awards the Michael Schmidpeter Prize to school classes, youth groups and similar organisations working on LGBTIQ, acceptance and tolerance projects. Lambda lists 106 member groups (as of 2026), including its own state associations as well as youth groups, checkpoints and other contact points and youth welfare institutions. As of September 2026, alongside the federal association there are state associations for Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitte-West (Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, currently being established), Mitteldeutschland (Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia), Niedersachsen-Bremen, and Nord (Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg). Members are registered centrally by the federal office in Berlin; membership in the federal association simultaneously confers membership in the relevant state association. In federal states without a state association, such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony, the federal association is responsible. Members can be natural persons as well as associations active in youth work. The federal office is located at Am Sudhaus 2, Briefkasten 41, 12053 Berlin (new address from 01.01.

Jugendnetzwerk Lambda was founded in March 1990 in Berlin, shortly before the first free Volkskammer elections in the GDR, emerging from an initiative that had existed since November 1989. Its founding goal was to participate in the Central Round Table of Youth as a representative of young lesbians and gay men and their meeting places and groups, because at that time neither in the GDR nor in West Germany was there a youth association explicitly representing the interests of gay, lesbian and bisexual young people. Lambda was admitted to the Central Round Table of Youth on 14 February 1990, from which the Demokratischer Jugendbund (DJB) emerged on 17 March 1990. In spring 1991 Lambda founded, together with four other youth organisations, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neue Demokratische Jugendverbände, which joined the Deutscher Bundesjugendring in the same year as a member and in 1993 as an affiliated association. In the meantime, Jugendnetzwerk Lambda e.V. is itself an independent affiliated association of the Bundesjugendring. The association is federally structured. The federal association Lambda e.V. handles administrative tasks, promotes cooperation among the state associations, and offers supra-regional youth encounters and workshops. It also publishes the magazine out! and operates the Lambda Space platform. On-the-ground work is primarily carried by the state associations. Lambda supports local youth groups and initiatives for queer young people. To this end, Lambda offers workshops and training, in particular the qualification for the Jugendleitercard, and advises on the founding of new youth groups. In addition, Lambda's regional associations organise their own youth groups. Lambda's regional associations organise national and international youth encounters, camps, educational trips, awareness projects and other youth education offerings. In Berlin, Lambda runs a queer youth centre. The counselling offerings vary regionally, but some regional associations also advise young people and young adults on site. For most topics, however, the association currently refers to its Queersupport project. The association is the sponsor of the Queersupport project, which offers both peer counselling and specialist counselling online, via email, chat and video call. As part of peer counselling, trained young people and young adults advise young people and young adults online. In addition, young people and young adults lead regular group meetings there. The focus is, alongside the respective topics of the groups, also on the empowerment of participants. With specialist counselling, counselling on psychosocial topics is also offered by qualified professionals. Counselling under the Self-Determination Act is also available via Queersupport. The "Lambda Peersupport" replaced the "In & Out" offering, which until 2022 offered peer-to-peer email and chat counselling in cooperation with the state association Lambda:bb. The counselling website anders.fremd (later migra-friends) for queer young people with a migration background in Bavaria has ceased publication. Lambda describes its project Lambda Space, which it has operated since December 2025, as a digital youth centre. It is a social network similar to the dbna service that was discontinued shortly before. According to its brochure, Lambda wants to use the project to offer a more accessible, lower-threshold and more anonymous entry into the infrastructure of queer youth welfare. Since 2007, Jugendnetzwerk Lambda has published the magazine out! on a quarterly basis. Various media projects are also operated: lambda queercast is a podcast by Lambda Mitteldeutschland on general queer topics; #LambdaTalk is a podcast by Lambda Bayern on youth work and queer topics; Lambda Kaffeeklatsch is a podcast by Lambda Bayern that serves purely for entertainment; in the Queere Identitäten podcast by Lambda Bayern, a different person tells of their identity and self-discovery process in each episode; in the TikTok project by Lambda Bayern, queer terms, flags, identities etc. are explained in as low-threshold a way as possible. Once a year, Lambda Bayern awards the Michael Schmidpeter Prize to school classes, youth groups or similar that dedicate themselves to projects on LGBTIQ, acceptance and tolerance. Lambda lists 106 member groups (as of 2026). These include, besides its own state associations, youth groups, checkpoints and other contact points and youth welfare institutions. As of September 2026, alongside the federal association there are the following state associations: Lambda Baden-Württemberg for the state of Baden-Württemberg; Lambda Bayern for the state of Bavaria; Lambda Berlin-Brandenburg for the states of Berlin and Brandenburg; Lambda Mitte-West for the states of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, currently being established; Lambda Mitteldeutschland for the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia; Lambda Niedersachsen-Bremen for the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen; Lambda Nord for the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Members are registered centrally by the office of the federal association in Berlin. If a young person has gained membership in the federal association, they simultaneously become a member of the state association in whose catchment area they live. In federal states (such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony) where no state association exists, the federal association is responsible. Members in Jugendnetzwerk Lambda can be, besides natural persons (individual members), also associations (i.e. clubs) that are active in youth work. The federal office is located at Am Sudhaus 2, Briefkasten 41, 12053 Berlin (new address from 01.01.2026); the previous address was Jugendnetzwerk Lambda e. V., Feurigstraße 54, 10827 Berlin. Lambda Bund is funded largely through the federal Kinder- und Jugendplan (KJP), administered by the Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Its three-year project "Jung und Queer – Das geht auch hier!" (2024-2027) is funded by Aktion Mensch, which also enabled the translation of its website into easy language. The Deutsche Stiftung für Engagement und Ehrenamt funded the "Qwir für dich" project in 2022, and currently supports "Beyond the binary – Enter the Matrix" under the 100xDigital funding line. The Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media fund its project under the "Jugend erinnert engagiert" funding line. The Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk funds its German-French youth encounter, and the Stiftung für Toleranz und Völkerverständigung co-financed its queer summer camp in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2026. Lambda is a member of the Deutscher Bundesjugendring, the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband, and at European level IGLYO — the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth & Student Organisation.

• 2026

  New federal office address at Am Sudhaus 2, Berlin, effective 1 January; 106 member groups listed; state associations as of September include Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitte-West (in formation), Mitteldeutschland, Niedersachsen-Bremen and Nord.

• 2025

  Lambda Space, described as a digital youth centre, begins operation in December.

• 2024

  The three-year project "Jung und Queer – Das geht auch hier!" (2024-2027) begins, funded by Aktion Mensch.

• 2022

  The In & Out peer counselling service ends; the Deutsche Stiftung für Engagement und Ehrenamt funds the "Qwir für dich" project.

• 2007

  Lambda begins publishing the quarterly magazine out!.

• 1993

  Lambda becomes an affiliated association of the Deutscher Bundesjugendring.

• 1991

  Lambda co-founds the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neue Demokratische Jugendverbände and joins the Deutscher Bundesjugendring as a member.

• 1990

  Lambda admitted to the Central Round Table of Youth on 14 February; founded in March in Berlin shortly before the first free Volkskammer elections; Demokratischer Jugendbund emerges on 17 March.

• 1989

  Initiative that would become Lambda begins in November.

A nationwide, self-organised queer youth association in Germany, run by young people for young people, focused on empowerment, community, counselling and political advocacy.

• Queersupport

  Online peer and specialist counselling via email, chat and video call, including counselling under the Self-Determination Act.

• Lambda Space

  A digital youth centre and social network operated since December 2025.

• out!

  Quarterly magazine published since 2007.

• Jugendleitercard training

  Qualification training for youth leaders.

• Youth encounters and camps

  National and international youth encounters, camps and educational trips organised by regional associations.

• Podcasts

  lambda queercast, #LambdaTalk, Lambda Kaffeeklatsch and Queere Identitäten.

1. 1Angebote | Lambda Bundesverbandlambda-online.de
2. 2Über uns | Lambda Bundesverbandlambda-online.de
3. 3Danke | Lambda Bundesverbandlambda-online.de
4. 4Kontakt | Lambda Bundesverbandlambda-online.de
5. 5Lambda youth networkwikidata.org
6. 6Jugendnetzwerk Lambdade.wikipedia.org