The Office of LGBTQA Affairs held its annual Lavender Graduation & Celebration on Wednesday, Apr. 18, 2018. This year’s graduation was lead by Shelby Dinkledine, Petey Peterson and other members of the office staff.
“Lavender Graduation & Celebration is an annual ceremony conducted on numerous campuses to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and ally students and to acknowledge their achievements and contributions to the University,” Director of the Office of LGBTQA Affiairs, Petey Peterson said.
The tradition of Lavender graduation began at the University of Michigan in 1995 with just three graduates and is now an annual ceremony held on campuses across the country.
The color lavender plays a historic role in LGBTQ history and in the community. “It's a combination of the colors pink and black, which were once used to identify and discriminate against LGBT people. The LGBTQ community has reclaimed lavender as symbol of pride and community,” Peterson shared.
Graduates at the Lavender Graduation will be presented a rainbow cord by their Guests of Honor.
“Highlighting the accomplishments and successes of LGBTQA+ is so crucial for visibility and to shine a light on all our Queer & Trans students who are possibility models. Showing it is possible to graduate, be student leader anywhere on campus and be out and your full authentic self,” Peterson said.
This year marked the third ceremony since the founding of the Office of LGBTQA Affairs at WSU, and according to Peterson, this year feels harder in a good way.
“We have so many engaged and active student leaders and many of them are graduating or moving on to leadership roles in other areas on campus. And many of these students I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with for three years. It is hard to say goodbye but also such a joy to see them thriving and sharing their gifts and talents across campus or beyond WSU,” Peterson said.
Peterson feels honored to help uplift the accomplishments and stories of LGBTQA+ students at WSU (#rainbowraiders). “We have so much to celebrate and it feels even more important to do so in the current global, national and local climate for marginalized people and communities.”
