The new Queer@FU network will carve out a space where queer employees at Freie Universität Berlin can meet to talk about their experiences while also contributing to greater visibility and fostering a respectful work environment. Japhet Johnstone from the Central Translation Office and Nora Große from the Sustainability and Energy Unit who founded the network discuss their hopes for the initiative and how Freie Universität Berlin has supported them in their endeavors.

How did you come up with the idea for a queer network?

Japhet Johnstone: When I first joined Freie Universität in 2019, a small network with just a few people was in the process of being set up. But all efforts to get something off the ground came to a halt because of the pandemic. This summer, when Pride events started happening again, I decided to take another swing at it and wrote to Nora Große asking if she was still interested.

Nora Große: I’m surprised how fast everything happened. But I suppose what has changed since then is that Freie Universität Berlin now has a Diversity and Antidiscrimination Office, which offers a strong foundation for our work. That didn’t exist before the pandemic.

What kind of support have you received from the Diversity and Antidiscrimination Office?

Nora Große: We are in regular contact with Gabriele Rosenstreich from the office, and she has helped us a lot with founding the network. Staff networks are set to become a key aspect of diversity working structures at Freie Universität, and we hope that Queer@FU will be joined by many others!

It helps a lot to know that we can rely on the university structure for support. For example, last Friday an email went out to all employees saying that we wanted to celebrate the network being launched and that we’d set up a queer mailing list. It was sent by Freie Universität’s Executive Vice President, Verena Blechinger-Talcott, who has supported the network from the very outset. By doing this, she managed to generate a great deal of publicity for our initiative that we wouldn’t have achieved if we had just stuck to our personal channels.

Japhet Johnstone: It’s a good – and important – message for the university to send out to its employees: you don’t need to hide who you are at work. You can just be who you are, and you won’t be merely tolerated, but actually welcomed with open arms. Knowing this made it easier for us to set up this network for employees. Until now, any networking we did was through personal connections.

In your opinion, why is having a queer network at the university so important?

Nora Große: The university is made up of a relatively heterogeneous group of people, which means that some queer people have to contend with stereotypes, prejudice, or even straight up discrimination; others hide this aspect of their identities because they fear these kind of hostile reactions, while others still have had positive and empowering experiences. We wanted to create a safe space where all of these people could talk about their experiences and perspectives in an informal setting. But we also wanted to foster greater visibility and a work environment where queer and non-queer individuals could benefit from mutual understanding and respect.

Japhet Johnstone: I myself am involved in a queer sports club. That’s where I really learned the importance of this kind of network, a space where people who share similar experiences can talk with each other, support each other, and be there for one another. We also believe that staff networks of this nature can contribute to a more open, vibrant, and united university community and organizational culture.

On Wednesday, September 21, 2022 you’ll be hosting an event to officially launch the queer network. Where will things go from there?

Nora Große: We consider ourselves a grassroots network, which means that our members will decide the topics it addresses and the formats it adopts. Our primary goal right now is to establish an informal Stammtisch-style setting where our members can meet once a month – we’ll be announcing the time and place via the mailing list. Depending on the needs and ideas of our members, we’ll see what shape the network will eventually take.

Japhet Johnstone: We were thrilled by the response we’ve had so far to the vice president’s email. We’ve already had a lot of people sign up for the Queer@FU mailing list, which shows us that we’ve really hit a nerve.

Nora Große: It’s also important to note here that we won’t be acting as a consultation point for one-on-one counseling or anything like that. There are already support services with highly qualified staff in place at Freie Universität that provide that kind of help. What we want to do is provide a space where we can discuss our experiences and perspectives on equal footing, and we extend a warm welcome to all those who would like to join us!

Anne Kostrzewa conducted the interview.

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This article originally appeared in German on September 19, 2022, in campus.leben, the online magazine of Freie Universität Berlin.