Lafayette celebrates inaugural Lavender Graduation

Lafayette’s Gender & Sexuality Programs and the Office of Alumni Relations introduced the College’s inaugural Lavender Graduation in May, an occasion to honor the contributions students have made to raising the visibility, inclusion, and well-bering of LGBTQIA+ students. Thomas Lee, assistant director of Gender and Sexuality Programs, and President Nicole Farmer Hurd, spoke at the event, and presented the 18 honorees with lavender honor cords and the book “We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation.”

“This diverse group is recognized for academic and extracurricular accomplishments spanning athletics, multicultural organizations, and a plethora of clubs and honor societies,” Lee says. “We celebrate their leadership, commitment to service, and work to make spaces more diverse and inclusive, but perhaps most importantly we celebrate their courage to be out as their authentic selves. Today we see an alarming wave of anti-LGBTQIA+ laws and rhetoric across our country, and college campuses aren’t always the most accepting and affirming spaces. The strength, resilience, and pride of these queer and trans students’ are absolutely astonishing and noteworthy and something Gender & Sexuality Programs and the Office of Alumni Relations look forward to marking annually.”