Lein was born in 1949 in
Höchst,
Frankfurt am Main,
Hesse, Germany. She was raised as a
Protestant. The café hosted exhibitions, political discussions and concerts. She was also one of the founders of the first
lesbian centre in Frankfurt. She was an organiser of the Berlin
Christopher Street Day (CSD, Germany and Switzerland's counterpart to
pride parades), the
anti-psychiatric Tribunals, with 27 one-hour episodes broadcast on the Berliner Kabel station from 1991 to 1993. She has also been interviewed for lesbian documentaries, commenting on "the problems of speaking openly about
taboo desires in sexually less tolerant societies" and on queer aging for
Vice magazine. She sat on the jury for the queer film prize TEDDY for two decades == Awards ==