More than 200 people showed up last week for the grand opening of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender and Questioning Resource Center.
The center, which operates under the Office of Equity and Inclusion, opened Friday. Jozi De Leon, Equity and Inclusion vice president, said the center boasts a variety of resources for students and community members.
“We are here to offer services, host events and offer a place for conversations,” she said.
The LGBTQ Center, an initiative spearheaded by students, is located on the northwest corner of the Duck Pond, between Scholes Hall and Dane Smith Hall, in the basement of Building 20A.
Services are available to UNM staff, students and faculty Monday-Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We’ll also offer safe zone trainings that train folks to establish a safe zone in their environment, where they know they can go and talk if there is an issue that involves safety,” De Leon said.
The center will also offer community networking opportunities, safe sex information and resources, volunteer events and free HIV testing.
Speakers and organizers at the event made sure to stress that the resource center is intended to be all-inclusive.
“It’s also a place for those who are supportive,” said Elisa Pintor, a graduate student working at the resource center. “It doesn’t matter their sexual orientation — we can reach out to be more inclusive and equitable.”
Pintor, a Chicago native and self-described “queer chicana,” has 10 years experience organizing community supported groups and said she’s excited to educate people about a host of issues.
“This is the first time I’ve been able to specifically work with the queer community in advocacy, safety, education and support,” she said.
Dressed with rainbow lapel ribbons, UNM community members showed support at the grand opening.
Breanna Hastings, a junior and president of UNM PIRG, said the center is needed to promote unity.
“It’s a huge step and message from the University where they stand on gay and lesbian issues,” she said.
Other students touring the resource center, which includes a computer lab, a student lounge, an LGBTQ library, conference and counseling rooms, a kitchen and a gender-neutral restroom, said they were thrilled with the final product.
“People have come up to me and say, ‘This is a long time coming,’” Pintor said. “Everyone is happy to have the center.”
Still, the LGBTQ resource center has to jump a couple of hurdles in order to successfully establish itself. The center must find a self-sustaining avenue for funding and strike the perception that it is offering the same services as the Queer Straight Alliance, said Jeffrey Waldo, one of two students who drafted the first proposal to establish the LGBTQ center.
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“The QSA is a student-run organization,” he said. “We are a department out of the Office of Equity and Inclusion. We’re open regular business hours.”
The Student Fee Review Board recommended giving the center about $85,000 in early February, and the Board of Regents approved the allocation in its annual budget summit in May. Waldo said he’s concerned that the SFRB’s recommendation was only for startup costs and won’t be recurring.
David Griffith, another student responsible for petitioning the University to support a the center, said this reality is prompting the group to find alternative revenue sources to fund its services, including fundraising and grants.
“We’re looking into long-term funding, something outside of student fees,” he said.
Money and identity issues aside, after sitting through hours of student-fee meetings, mountains of paperwork and other bureaucratic obstacles, De Leon said it was refreshing for the organizers that the resource center is now open and ready to help.
“It’s tremendously important, especially as we have a core value at UNM that diversity is key,” she said.
