Kansas University now has a physical home for its Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity — a nook in the Kansas Union envisioned as a safe space for LGBT students and allies.

“This is one of the places where your gender pronouns will absolutely be respected without question,” said Vanessa Delgado, assistant director of KU’s Student Involvement and Leadership Center, or SILC, and coordinator for the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity. She said students should feel that “KU has a place for me, and I can feel at home here without ever having to hide a part of who I am.”

The Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity has been offering programming for years, but the space — a room within the SILC offices area on the main level of the Union — is new this semester. A grand opening is planned Wednesday to celebrate and help get the word out to students and allies who might want to use it.

Center leaders emphasize the space is envisioned for what they call the “LGBT-plus” community: “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual and ally students, faculty and staff.”

The room has a conference table large enough for eight people, a couch, a couple desks and a TV students can plug their computers into and watch movies and shows, Delgado said.

So far, students have used the space to sit and talk, eat lunch, watch TV or hold small meetings, Delgado said.

The room became available after some reshuffling in the SILC office, SILC director Rueben Perez said.

Furnishing it, as well as paying for Delgado’s full-time position, was made possible by Student Senate, he said.

This is the second year Student Senate has allocated money — about $50,000 this year — to fund the full-time position, Perez said. Perez said the position was vacant for part of last year, and Student Senate agreed to use the extra funds to designate the room for the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity.

KU’s Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, now located in Wescoe Hall, shares some of the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity’s goals, Perez said, but he said the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity’s new home in the Union is unique.

Thanks to its furnishings, size and location in “the living room of the campus,” it’s not only a functional meeting and computing space, but also a hangout, Perez said.

He said it’s hoped to be — and has been already — used for LGBT students who may not feel comfortable being “authentic” at other places on campus, and also students who are questioning or dealing with difficult aspects about coming out or transitioning genders to find resources and support from other students and allies.

Perez said the new center is student-focused, though it’s open to faculty and staff as well, and that he was grateful it was deemed a priority by the Student Senate.

“It’s a very loud message that they are supporting the SGD (Sexuality and Gender Diversity) community,” Perez said. “This is definitely a cause they felt passionate about.”

Delgado said LGBT students in higher education often say they don’t feel like they’re welcome on campus. To ensure better retention, she said, she hopes to make sure they feel like they do have a sense of community at KU and that the Center’s new home is a milestone.

“It’s a very important step for us as a university,” she said.