The Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success opened the doors to its new space Tuesday night with a huge audience of attendees.

The Center has officially moved to 3224 Memorial Union from its previous location in the Student Services building. The Center is located near the parking ramp on the third floor of the southeast side of the Memorial Union.

It all started with the the pull of a rainbow scarf and the opening of the doors. The new Center space is much larger than its last location, able to support over 30 people including students, faculty, staff and community members.

“Welcome to your new home,” said Brad Freihoefer, director for the Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success as they opened the door to attendees.

Pronoun buttons, vegan and gluten-free food and even a rainbow made of cupcakes covered a table that could seat ten people, the capacity of the old Center space.

The new space sports colorful walls of orange, green and lavender with an entire wall taken up by whiteboards which attendees wrote their feelings about the new Center on.

One of the big gains of the Center moving to the new space is the ability to have a wellness room, which has no screens in it and has lavender walls to set a calming mood. The wellness room will be used for quiet studying, praying, meditation or just a place to reflect.

Many attendees, Freihoefer included, thought that the wellness room was their favorite part of the new Center space and was well needed.

“I think that, as students, taking care of yourselves is hard and that [the wellness room] will give students another way to take care of themselves and be intentional about their wellbeing,” said Alissa Stoehr, a lecturer in sociology.

There is also an entire wall near one of the exits lined with safe-sex supplies such as lube, condoms and dental dams.

All furniture and assets of the new Center space were possible due to donors which Freihoefer thanked during a speech.

“I think that is long overdue and that the LGBTQIA+ community on campus clearly needed a space for community, for support, for resources,” said Martino Harmon, senior vice president of student affairs.