Weber State holds ‘Lavender Graduation’ for LGBTQ students

Weber State University in Ogden held a series of affinity graduation ceremonies for various subgroups, including LGBTQ students, Latinos, and others, to provide a more intimate space for celebration as the spring semester came to a close.

The University’s LGBT Resource Center recognized the need for representation among the LGBTQ community, as they sometimes feel overlooked in the larger commencement ceremony. Adrienne Andrews, Weber State’s vice president of equity, diversity, and inclusion, explained that the affinity ceremonies aim to give these students a dedicated space to celebrate their achievements alongside their peers.

The Lavender Graduation marked the beginning of the series of ceremonies. The event, held at Shepherd Union, featured around a dozen participants who received rainbow tassels and listened to a presentation on the history of such celebrations. Katelyn Blanch, a manager at the LGBT Resource Center, emphasized the importance of recognizing and honoring the contributions of LGBTQ+ students who have been historically underrepresented.

“It’s a great event to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community that we have here at Weber State and the community that supports them,” said Katelyn Blanch, LGBT Resource Center administrative assistant. “Our LGBTQ+ students are very passionate and have put in a lot of work, and they’ve been underrepresented for so long.”

Graduates were given rainbow tassels and had lunch with presentations about the history of lavender graduations and reading of graduate names.

Lavender graduations began in 1995 at the University of Michigan after lesbian speaker and author Ronni Sanlo was denied access to her children’s graduations due to her sexual orientation. The tradition has now expanded to hundreds of universities across the country. 

Other affinity ceremonies included the Pacific Islander community, the Asian community, the WSU Ballet Folklórico (a Hispanic/Latino dance group), the Latinx community, students of African descent, and Native American students.

Weber State introduced the concept of affinity celebrations in 2019 with a special ceremony for Latinos, and last year marked the first time the university held a full array of affinity graduation events. Andrews expressed the university’s desire to make affinity celebrations a permanent fixture in their annual graduation events.

As the university celebrated the accomplishments of its graduating students, the most popular majors among this year’s Weber State graduates included nursing, psychological science, criminal justice, communication, computer science, and professional sales.