"It is generally accepted that during the more than 25 years of existence of the University of Oldenburg, many gay men have of course also wound their way through seminars and lunch queues. However, it becomes difficult when it comes to finding traces of these men who created niches for gay students in everyday university life with their actions. I have taken most of the information on this topic from articles in the Oldenburg lesbian and gay magazine "Rosige Zeiten" and a telephone interview with Ralf Übing. The Friday nude bathing in the large university swimming pool was a well-known gay meeting place. However, the nudist programme was discontinued in April 1990 due to complaints from women who had been sexually harassed (probably by not-so-gay men). The "gay" table in the canteen (in the deep level, at the back right) was and has been the unofficial meeting place for gays at the university since the mid-1980s. From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, the library toilet is said to have served as an opportunity for men to make short, anonymous "contact". A former AStA member (at that time officially straight and alternative, now gay and, according to his own statements, rather conservative) had no knowledge of official gay groups in the AStA between 1980 and 1984. The first concrete information only became available around 1987, when gays met in room VG 005 for a gay café after the canteen meal. On 13 December 1988, Ekkehart Plate (then a member of Na Und and co-founder of the Oldenburg lesbian and gay magazine "Rosige Zeiten"), who had previously run the gay café, convened the first meeting of gay students, at which the "INTERESSENGEMEINSCHAFT SCHWULES CAFE: HOMOSEXUELLE INITIIEREN ALTERNATIVEN SCHWULENTREFF" was founded. With lively participation, the group discussed the future organisation of everyday gay life at the university. In addition to ideas for film screenings and parties, the further planning of the Gay University Café (SUC) was pushed forward. They eventually moved from the old, out-of-the-way room to the carpet room (next to the smoking area by the cafeteria, by the former food voucher shop). This storage room, which was not marked in the plans of the student union at the time, was quickly tidied up by some gays and, after thorough renovation, became the meeting place for gays at the university every Tuesday from 2 pm, but mostly every day at mealtime. Posters with notices were put up at the entrance to the cafeteria, thus regularly drawing attention to gays at the university for the first time. Everyday life back then: "SUC" posters with notices about events were regularly torn down. The first party of the Gay University Café, organised by Ralf Übing, took place on 20 April 1989 at the start of the semester in the carpet room. Equipped with a complete video, light and sound system, but with only a moderate turnout, the atmosphere was created by curious partygoers from the neighbouring sports party. The event was repeated once again on 25 October 1989, at the start of term. In addition to coffee and cake at the joint meetings in the "SUC", there were also lively discussions about the self-image of gays and lesbians. The reactions of members of the "SUC" to an article in No. 2 of the lesbian and gay magazine "Rosige Zeiten" (ROZ), in which the author wrote about the topic "Gays are men too", can be seen here. Several letters to the editor were written to the "ROZ" and the extent to which women are oppressed by gay men was discussed. No consensus was reached. With Ekkehard's suicide in March 1990, the gay university café "SUC" also disbanded shortly afterwards. In November 1991, the series of events "Different from the Others - Homosexuality in Feature Films" dealt with gay film history and the direct or indirect portrayal of homosexuality in film. This film series lasting several days was initiated by a lecturer from the Department of Art at the University of Oldenburg. After the semester break in autumn 1992, mathematics student Carsten Rodiek asked the AStA whether there were any gay groups at the University of Oldenburg. The history of the Autonomous Gay Department at the University of Oldenburg begins with the brusque reply "There's no such thing here" from the AStA secretary."

Carsten Rodiek, supported by Andreas Memken, Ekkehart Plate's former partner, went to the AStA, presented his idea and got the green light from the AStA to set up his own department. The gay department was born, albeit without space or funding, without autonomous status or active staff. Parallel to the gay department, Carsten also founded the "Café Schwul" at the Oldenburg AIDS organisation, where he was a member of the board. There he met other students such as Jens Breder. He initiated the first call for a meeting at the AStA, which took place on 29 January 1993. There were already 12 people on the first list of telephone numbers. They met regularly, planned the future and formulated the objectives of the department within a few weeks. A "gay plenum" decided on all of the unit's activities. All gay students at the University of Oldenburg were (and still are) entitled to vote. In the beginning, the premises were shared with the Cultural Department (M1 - 160). The first major action was to "clean out" the shared space. In addition to new paint and a donated typewriter, a coffee machine, bistro chairs and tables were purchased to set up a gay café. At that time, the centre consisted of around eight active members of staff and around twenty occasional visitors/helpers. The initial purchases and costs were covered by the Männerfabrik, a disco for men only, which was also newly founded at the time. There was good contact between these two groups and together they also launched the "Violence against men" project series. Just six months after its foundation, there were already readings, panel discussions, self-defence courses and information events at the start of the semester, as well as a protest action: the 2nd Oldenburg "Kiss In". After a tough struggle for a fixed financial title and space in 1994 (both of which were achieved), the restructured organisation of the department then changed due to legal necessity. In a first official plenary meeting, Carsten Rodiek was elected as the gay officer. In 1995, only Carsten Rodiek and Peter Jürgens (finance officer) kept the department running. They organised cultural and party events as well as breakfasts at the beginning of the semester. Although there were users of the gay café and the events, there were hardly any people who wanted to actively participate. In order to change this situation, the two speakers launched an emergency appeal in which they announced their resignation and thus the end of the gay department if new people did not take over their work.

At the plenary meeting in 1996, there was finally a complete change in the department's staff. New officers were elected and a tight circle of six people was formed who gave the department a new objective. In addition to a cultural event and a memorial event for homosexual victims of the Holocaust, the space was completely renovated and remodelled. The gay café and library, with numerous new book acquisitions, became a focal point as a service for gay and bisexual students and other interested parties. It was realised that many networks and information about room allocations, distribution lists or other processes were heavily dependent on individuals and were usually lost when there was a change of personnel. This meant that processes and contacts had to be researched anew for each project. In the search for ways to initiate projects more easily and incorporate gay content more strongly into university programmes and life, the plenum decided to create an office position. This was advertised and the plenum decided on the allocation of the position. The first office officer laid the foundations for the work carried out in the department today. From archiving to the creation of address files and requests for room reservations, everything was now managed by the office assistant. The gay officer took over the representation of the gay department to the public and other lesbian and gay groups and organisations.