Guys -

I'd like to get your feedback on gay Germany and culture.. My partner & I are currently living in the UK temporarily, and my company is offering me the potential to move to Munich on an expat assignment for 2-3 years.

What is your view of being gay, and in a long term gay relationship in Germany? How is the community and/or people perceived? Also, neither of us speak German, my partner speaks English, Spanish and Japanese, and I speak English, Spanish and French. Obviously the wrong languages, in retrospect. Can you comment on how Munich would be given that we'd be learning the languages?

Reading the boards, it seems like the people can be very tough, and difficult to make friends, etc.. Thoughts?

Reno

Munich is conservative and even if you speak german, they speak in munich bavarian... and it is not understandable even to some germans... i don't think gay life would be that bad.

Um, isn't this the Dutch forum? :?

The German forum is deader than Rita Verdonk's, well, you know!

I lived in Munich for four very happy years, so I think I could give you a little advice.
I'm not sure if you are a male or female couple so I can't tailor my reponse to suit, but here goes.

Generally German society is as open minded about gay people as the British are, in fact perhaps a little more so. I just can't give you current information, about gay civil rights, as it's probably changed. But there are a lot of gay people in Munich. It's a bit like Holland, gay men are more obvious than lesbians and there are more of them. By coincidence I shared an apartment with a gay man, my boss and quite a few friends where gay, and my best buddy was a lesbian, I guess what I am trying to say is, you will easily meet and come across lots of other gay people in all walks of life, it's not the kind of place where you have to be closeted by any means.

I went to some of the gay bars, but think more Brussels sleaze than the trendy London scence. I am just not sure how you will get on as a gay couple wanting to meet other gay couples, you could try an advert on gaydar, although I always think that the good thing about being a gay man is that you always seem to have a ready made community wherever you go.

Munich has very good Italian and Turkish restaurants, decent cinemas and really good shops for it's size, I used to go to straight bars and clubs a lot, there is certainly enough nightlife and there are some interesting wildcards thrown in!

The Germans generally speak good english, perhaps not as well as the Dutch, but it's only by learning and speaking German you will integrate and make German friends, saying that there are a lot of expats living there, so if you are friendly and make an effort you should make friends, I must say I am finding it much harder to integrate here in Holland than I did in Germany.

You are obviously language skilled so I think you would pick up German quite fast. It's not so difficult.
The nice thing is the locals are so pleased when anyone tries to speak their language, they won't do the Dutch thing of answering back in English. The Buisness language is German, be warned they don't make exceptions. I am not very good at languages but it took me about a year to crack it.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised by this nation of people, they are slow to warm up, but if you manage to make friends, they will be good ones for a long time. yes they can be really harsh, but that's the fun of living abroad and working the locals out. You should enjoy a much higher standard of living than in the UK, and will probably live in a better/bigger appartment, have the mountains and lakes on your doorstep, enjoy more and complete social benefits, public transport, sporting facilities etc, and earn more than the UK. The outdoor life is fantastic, you can travel to Italy or Austria for the weekend, or go skiing for a day, there is great sailing, mountain biking and rock climbing all close by if you enjoy that kind of thing.

Bavaria is very different to the rest of the country it's quite catholic and more conservative, you can sadly come across people who are racist, which is very upsetting. It is also not as ethnically diverse or culturally as interesting as London, but where is ?

It's so close to the UK, visit for a long weekend before commiting, saying that it is a place that takes longer to access and get into than a weekend, it's a nicer place to live than be a tourist. I am not sure what field you are in so I ca'nt say if it will be interesting professionally, something to consider when you are taking a longer post. I loved the climate, blazing hot in summer and freezing in winter.

Buy a bike the first day you get there, it is very Bike friendly much more so than Holland. I'm writing this from a dyke's persepctive if you have'nt guessed that already.