Let’s be honest! If you’re a queer woman in India—you’ve probably spent more time worrying about finding a landlord who won’t judge you than imagining where you’ll retire. Because that’s the thing about being a lesbian here. We spend so much time fighting for the right to exist in the present that we’re rarely allowed to imagine the future.
A Sapphic Sanctuary
Berlin just did. A new housing project near Alexanderplatz is building 72 affordable apartments exclusively for lesbian and queer women. But before you roll your eyes and think, “Cute! Another European country doing European things,” hear us out…
This isn’t just an apartment building. It’s got a queer cultural centre. A neighbourhood café. Counselling services. Community spaces. Accessible homes. Shared living for women who need care. In other words, it’s designed around a radical idea: that lesbian and queer women deserve to grow old together without having to shrink themselves to fit into the world around them.
“Here, lesbians and queer women will be able to live a good life and enjoy their old age in a discrimination-free and neighbourly environment,” the project’s partners, WBM and RuT, said in a joint statement. RuT’s Managing Director Jutta Brambach called it “a pioneering project in Europe”, adding that the development “stands for lesbian and queer visibility and gender justice.”
What about Desi Queer Women?
Now let’s come back to India. Because if there’s one community that keeps getting sidelined—even within queer conversations—it’s lesbian, bisexual and queer women. Their stories are quieter. Less funded. Less visible. Pride campaigns still overwhelmingly centre gay men. Dating apps are built around men. Community spaces often end up being male-dominated. And if you’re a queer woman outside a metro city? The chances of finding an offline community can feel almost mythical.
Who talks about where queer women in India will grow old? Not policymakers. Not real estate developers. Not retirement communities. Not even us, most of the time. We’ve become so used to fighting today’s battles—coming out, surviving family pressure, navigating compulsory heterosexuality, finding housing as an unmarried couple—that imagining old age almost feels like a luxury.
We Talk About Coming Out. But What About Growing Old?
Berlin’s project flips that script. It says queer women aren’t just worth protecting in moments of crisis. They’re worth planning for. Imagine growing older in a building where no one asks if your partner is “just a friend”. Where your neighbours don’t blink when you hold hands. Where community isn’t something you have to build from scratch every few years because another café shuts down or another safe space disappears. That’s what this project is really selling. Not apartments. Belonging.
No, India isn’t about to announce a lesbian housing community next week. We’re still debating whether queer couples deserve legal recognition. But every movement begins by imagining something that doesn’t exist yet.
Maybe that’s the real takeaway from Berlin. Not that Germany is somehow miles ahead! But that someone, somewhere, thought lesbian women were worth designing a future around. It’s about time we asked ourselves the same question.
IMAGES CREDIT:
An architectural rendering of the Berolinastraße housing project in Berlin-Mitte, designed as an inclusive intergenerational housing community for lesbian and queer women. © GSAI / WBM
