Lavender Graduation

The Lavender Graduation was created by Dr. Ronni Sanlo, a Jewish lesbian keynote speaker in LGBT communities.^[1] The Lavender Graduation is an annual ceremony conducted on campuses nationwide to honor LGBT students and to acknowledge their accomplishments and contributions to the Universities.^[2] It is an informal part of the graduation ceremony that compliments the LGBT students and allies, not a replacement of it.^[3] Dr. Sanlo began this tradition because she was denied access to attend her own children's graduations due to her sexual orientation. Dr. Sanlo herself mentions that up "until 1995, there were no ceremonies to honor our LGBT students. There were only ceremonies for students of various ethnicities and for other groups like ROTC, but nothing for our students, those to tend to feel most disenfranchised from their colleges and universities."^[4]

The first Lavender Graduation took place at the University of Michigan in 1995 with three graduates. In 1997 Dr. Sanlo took the Lavender Graduation with her to UCLA, which became an instant success. and by 2001 there were over 45 campuses nationwide participating in Lavender Graduation Ceremonies.^[2] These ceremonies provide a positive last experience for LGBT students and allies, which encourages them to be more involved in their communities.

Ceremony

The Lavender Graduation Ceremony is more than just a graduation ceremony, it is a time for recognition and inspiration, connections and accomplishments, and best of all, it is a celebration. Like all ceremonies, the Lavender Graduation also has a commencement speaker. This speaker can be a student or someone with a connection to the university.^[3] Attendees do not strictly have to be an LGBT member. They can be of any sexual orientation and do not have to miss their own graduations. Special ceremonies, like the Lavender Graduation, are usually held well before the formal commencement begins.

Why Lavender?

Lavender is important to LGBT history and Dr. Sanlo herself because of the history behind it. It is a combination of the pink triangle that gay men were forced to wear and the black triangle designated to lesbians as political prisoners in Nazi Germany. Activists in the LGBT communities took these negative symbols of hatred and combined them to make a new symbol and color of pride and community.^[2][5]

Participating colleges and universities

Many colleges and universities celebrate and host Lavender Graduation Ceremonies including:^[2] American University; Amherst College; Babson College; Bloomsburg University; Bowling Green State University; Brandeis University; Brown University; Central Connecticut State University; Columbia University; California State Polytechnical College; California State University, Chico; Carlton College; Colgate University; Cornell University; Duke University; Elon University; Emory University; Gallaudet University; Georgia Tech; George Mason University; Georgetown University; Grand Valley State University; Harvey Mudd College; Iowa State University; Indiana University Bloomington; James Madison University; Johns Hopkins University; Kansas State University; Louisiana State University; Loyola Marymount University; Macalester University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Miami University; New Mexico State University; North Carolina State University; Northwestern University; Ohio State University; Oregon State University; Pennsylvania State University; Plymouth State University; Pomona College; Portland State University; Princeton University; Purdue University; Rutgers University; San Diego State University; Scripps University; Stanford University; State University of New York; Suffolk University; Temple University; Texas State University; University of Alabama; University of California, Berkeley; University of Colorado Boulder; University of Georgia; University of Florida; University of Idaho; University of Illinois- Chicago; University of Illinois- Springfield; University of Maryland; University of Michigan; University of Missouri; University of Nebraska- Lincoln; University of Nevada- Reno; University of North Carolina Asheville; University of North Dakota; University of North Florida; University of Notre Dame; University of Oklahoma; University of Oregon; University of San Francisco; University of Southern California; University of South Carolina; University of Southern Maine; University of Richmond; University of Rhode Island; University of Tennessee; University of Texas at Austin; University of Utah; University of Vermont; University of Virginia; University of Wisconsin; University of Wyoming; Vanderbilt University; Vassar College; Virginia Commonwealth University; Williams College; Yale University; The University of Texas at Dallas.

References