Lavender spirals hung from the trees, floral decorations floated overhead and the neighborhood cat greeted guests as they gathered for Lavender Graduation April 25.
Utah Tech University’s LGBTQSO Club, in partnership with Encircle St. George, hosted Lavender Graduation to celebrate and honor LGBTQIA+ students and allies.
Twelve graduates were recognized in person with cords and stoles, with more honored who couldn’t attend. The Encircle house was decked out in all things lavender — from table runners and plates to soft pops of the light purple in the butterfly decor — as faculty, staff, students, friends and loved ones gathered for the ceremony.
Project Rainbow also donated $500 to help provide stoles for graduates. Along with their cords and stoles, each graduate received a lavender-themed goodie bag with hand cream, chapstick, little bundles of lavender and even a tiny duck wearing a graduation cap.
Lavender roots and meaning
Mason Britton, a senior history major from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and president of the LGBTQSO, said Lavender Graduation began in the mid ‘90s at the University of Michigan.
“It was basically meant to provide a safe space for frequently marginalized students. It wasn’t just exclusive to LGBTQIA+ students,” Britton said. “Over the years, I think the LGBTQ+ community has kind of adopted it as their own, but one thing we wanted to do this year was open it up to anyone, and so we encouraged everyone to sign up if they were a graduating senior, especially allies too, because historically it has included allies.”
The name itself, Lavender Graduation, is a way of claiming a once-used slur.
“Historically, lavender has kind of been a slur toward queer people,” Britton said. “Betty Friedan, who wrote ‘The Feminine Mystique,’ she used to call lesbians ‘lavender menaces.’ So it’s one of those words that has kind of been reclaimed over time and given a positive connotation.”
Ceremony centered on safe spaces in uncertain times
Sammy Bateman, assistant program coordinator at Encircle, opened the ceremony with remarks and said: “Throughout my role, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the strength, resilience and joy within our community every day. And today, that joy feels especially powerful.”
Bateman acknowledged that living in southern Utah can sometimes feel challenging because spaces weren’t built with LGBTQIA+ individuals in mind.
“You’ve carved your own paths, built community and created belonging, not just for yourselves, but for those who will come after you,” they said. “You deserve to take up space, to be celebrated and to live a life that feels true to who you are. The world needs exactly what you bring.”
Britton, also graduating and receiving his lavender cord, thanked Utah Tech faculty who attended, as well as his fellow graduates.
“The love I have felt as president of LGBTQSO this year has been unmatched,” he said. “And unlike anything I have ever felt before, I can only hope to carry this love with me, as I continue my journey through life and higher education… I stand here today in a world I do not always recognize, and yet I see change. I see it in every single one of us.”
Graduates then walked to the front as their names were read, where LGBTQSO presidency members placed stoles and lavender cords around their necks. The stoles were purple and featured pride flag colors.
Following the ceremony, a lavender-colored table runner displayed croissants with Nutella, peanut butter and jelly, along with cookies, strawberries, grapes and blueberries. Graduates and attendees stayed to visit with friends, make friendship bracelets and create homemade buttons.
Graduates feeling seen, safe and celebrated
Isabella Berentsen, a senior history major from Las Vegas, compared the feeling of love she felt at Lavender Graduation to an LGBTQSO Drag Show.
“You know when it’s over, and all the people in the crowd are getting to talk to the drag queens, and you can just feel the love in the room?” Berentsen explained. “That’s what this felt like to me. It’s like you can just feel all of the love and all of the hope and all of the joy and all of the relief that it’s over. And all the celebrating and being together with people who care.”
She also addressed her gratitude for space spaces, like Encircle and the LGBTQSO.
“With the way that the country is going, it is literally becoming physically and mentally dangerous to be a queer person,” Berentsen said. “Safe spaces that are so community-oriented are becoming more and more important, not only as safety for us, but also as outreach to people.”
“We had a party out in public, and nobody died, and it was beautiful, and it was wonderful,” she added. “And there were people who passed by, and nobody thought anything of it. It shouldn’t have to be a big deal, but it is because it’s not safe anymore.”
Alice Ferrari Shea, a senior psychology major from Brazil, said Lavender Graduation made her feel special.
“I especially like how Sammy mentioned that we go through extra challenges, added challenges that people that are either heterosexual or cisgender don’t really go through, and we have to jump through extra hoops,” she said. “So it feels really amazing to have that celebrated.”
