The sound of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles and Vox
Femina Los Angeles Women’s Chorus was heard across Bruin
Plaza on Wednesday evening, kicking off the grand opening
celebration of the newly located Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender
campus resource center.
“This center is a physical acknowledgement of the LGBT
community, the value of our students and the scholarship of their
academic success,” said Ronni Sanlo, director of the LGBT
Resource Center.
After being located in Kinsey Hall since its establishment in
1995, the LGBT Resource Center was relocated to the recently
renovated Student Activities Center in Bruin Plaza, formerly known
as the Men’s Gym.
“It’s in the heart of campus. This is where it
belongs. … We’re in the light for all to see,” said
fifth-year English creative writing student Jarrod Chambers.
The ceremony had several prominent guest speakers, including
West Hollywood Mayor Jeffrey Prang and California Senator Sheila
Kuehl, who was an LGBT pioneer at UCLA, founder of the
campus’s feminist newsmagazine and the first openly gay or
lesbian person to be elected to the California legislature.
“It’s astounding to see the entire community outside
of UCLA that we have today. We knew the students but not the people
who were here before us who had supported us, the people who built
it to what it is today,” said Paymon Ebrahimzadeh, a general
representative for the Queer Alliance.
Kuehl cut the ribbon to the new center and presented a
resolution stating that “UCLA has shown its commitment to
people of all sexual orientations by providing this new, enlarged
facility for the LGBT Campus Resource Center.”
Other speakers from the L.A. community offered their support to
the LGBT resource center.
“We want to reach out in partnership; we want to be active
and involved, to make our resources available … to help you
achieve your mission in the months and years ahead,” Prang
said.
Members within the UCLA community also recognized the
achievements of the LGBT Resource Center during its nine years on
campus.
“As I look at the aspirations it has, … I am proud of
the work that went before us,” said Janina Montero, who was
appointed vice chancellor of student affairs earlier in the
year.
“Modeling the future is a tall order, but the center is a
promise for all of us here. Let us celebrate and keep our eyes on
the prize,” Montero said.
Although many speakers agreed there was still much work to be
done to achieve equality, Gail Rolf, Project 10 adviser for the
L.A. Unified School District, said she believed that she was
already working with what Montero called “the
prize.”
“We are seeing our children being more and more open and
our schools being more and more accommodating,” Rolf
said.
“When I was in college I couldn’t even say the words
“˜lesbian’ and “˜gay’,” Rolf said.
To show how student experiences have changed because of the
resource center, current students spoke about their lives on
campus.
“The fact that the center even existed gave me such
strength. I met people who became my friends and are now my family
away from home,” said third-year history and psychology
student Roy Samaan, social chairman for the Queer Alliance.