Syracuse Lavender Graduation will honor those who formed a 'positive LGBTQ climate on campus'

Syracuse University in upstate New York is organizing a “Lavender Graduation” for students who identify as “LGBTQIA,” which will take place on Sunday, April 28.

The school’s Lavender Graduation is a rebranding of what was formerly called the “Rainbow Banquet,” which the university held from 2003 to about 2019. The Syracuse LGBTQ Resource Center is organizing this year’s event.

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“For the sixth consecutive year, we celebrate our queer and trans graduating students (undergraduate and graduate) and their accomplishments through our Lavender Graduation,” Syracuse’s website states. “All graduating undergraduate and graduate students whose lived experience, scholarship and/or leadership have contributed to a positive LGBTQ climate on campus are eligible to be Lavender Graduates.”

According to the same web page, Lavender Graduations typically “celebrate LGBTQIA+ communities at Syracuse University, [SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry] and the city of Syracuse, featuring a dinner, a graduating keynote speaker, graduating LGBTQIA+ student recognition and the presentation of Rainbow Recognition Awards.”

This year’s event will consist of participants receiving certificates and a lavender cord, as well as a slide show featuring their achievements and future plans.

The ceremony is not the only LGBT-themed end-of-year event that the center is providing students. 

The day before the graduation ceremony, a “Queer Prom” will take place at the Schine Student Center. “Here’s another chance at prom but this time, you are encouraged to gender-bend and be unapologetically yourself!,” an event description reads.

Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, the LGBTQ Resource Center has collected names for students who seek to be included on a “Queer and Trans Solidarity List.” 

“We are committed to working against queer and trans antagonism that marginalizes LGBTQIA+ people and their many intersecting identities,” the statement says. “We believe that queer and trans existence is beautiful!”

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The center also provides “affinity groups,” including a “Trans Affinity Group” and an “A-Spec Affinity Group,” for “asexual, aromantic, demisexual, demiromantic, gray or questioning individuals.” There is also a group called “QTPOC Affinity Group” for “queer and trans students of color.”

Campus Reform contacted Syracuse University and the LGBTQ Resource Center for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.