On Wednesday, the Brandeis Gender and Sexuality Center celebrated its grand opening ceremony in the Usdan Winter Lobby.

The ceremony marked the Center’s one year anniversary and its establishment of a permanent and independent office in Usdan Student Center. Prior to this year, all the branches of Triskelion and the Queer Resource Center were housed inside Student Sexuality Information Services in the Shapiro Campus Center. In October of last year, these student organizations petitioned for a more prominent and independent location on campus where they could more easily provide students with access to resources. On Oct. 12, 2014, their request was approved by the Student Union, and a resolution was passed in support of a new Gender and Sexuality Center and a paid director for the center.

As stated on their website, the mission of the Gender and Sexuality Center is to “provide resources, positive visibility, an affirming space, and advocacy for lesbian, gay, same gender loving, bisexual, transgender, gender nonconforming, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual students, staff, and faculty at Brandeis University.”

“Through education, community building, and programming for the entire university community, all are encouraged to participate in creating and maintaining an inclusive environment,” the website also notes.

In an interview with the Justice, Felix Tunador, the Intercultural Center’s current gender and sexuality coordinator, explained that “students have been trying to get this kind of center from the late ’90s, and now it has finally come to fruition.”

One Brandeis alum, Simon Zahn ’12 who spearheaded an initiative to establish such a center when he was an undergraduate, also attended the ceremony to show his support. “We want people to be engaged,” Tunador added. “The Gender and Sexuality Center can also be offered as a respite from negativity that LGBTQ+ students may encounter on campus and elsewhere.”

Ashani Peterkin ’16, a student intern at the Center, also expressed his hopes for what the Center will accomplish in an interview with the Justice: “I think the Center is going to provide a space for LGBTQ+ students to come together. … We want it to be a home so when students come, they feel comfortable,” he said. “It will also hopefully make queer people on campus more visible.” The grand opening event was sponsored by the ICC.

—Editor’s note: Justice copy editing staff member Sabrina Sung ’18 is an intern at the GSC.