Autonomes Schwulenreferat im AStA FU

Happy Birthday!

In the summer semester 2001 it was 20 years back that the Gay Board (Schwulenreferat) at the Free University of Berlin was founded. In 1981 the gay movement was still in its youth. But after the conservative turn in German politics the mood of change saw itself replaced by a necessity to secure the achieved against rising pressure. The gay boards at the universities were to play a considerable role in that task. The first of them within the Federal Republic was that of the Student Body Council (AStA) at the Free University of Berlin.

Founded by a gay workgroup of the "Action Alliance of Democrats and Socialists" (ADS) it fell to the share of the new board to give help and support to gay students. The double life between the heterosexual campus and the subcultural ghetto — especially burdening to people new in the city or amidst the process of coming out — was to be overcome collectively, similarly to the way this had been begun a decade ago throughout society by the new gay movement. It was all about the right to end a life trapped in privacy. The Gay Board with its meetings, parties and information was seen as a first step in that direction. Beyond that client-oriented work one wanted to confront discrimination against homosexuality in science and the media.

A lot of things that stood at the beginning haven't lost their topicality. Partly because they are relevant each and every semester like the attempt to break down isolation within mass university. Partly because the goal has never been achieved or even come any closer. This is especially true for the demand to institutionalize either gay or queer studies, or to initiate studying projects in the faculties. Seminars with lesbian, gay or transgender topics may have become less shocking. But they are still scarily seldom.

Another problem threads the history of the Gay Board: a shortage of staff that often hinders the realization of the demands that have been formulated once. No talk of the several workgroups that had been created in the euphoria of the board's founding years! This is of course not the only reason why anybody is welcome who feels like sharing in our common work, who brings along his own ideas and projects or who simply wants to get to know other people.

Open Meeting: Every Tuesday, 4:30 pm, in the AStA building (Otto-von-Simson-Str. 23, 2nd floor).