2021 Lavender Graduates and Ceremony
Congratulations to Carolina's 2021 Lavender Graduates! We are so glad that you could join us for this year's ceremony, whether on the Zoom call or in spirit. We hope you will take the words of our keynote speaker K. Tajhi Claybren into the next phase of your journey. Thank you for allowing us to celebrate you! If you were unable to join us, please view details the ceremony and watch the keynote here.
The 2021 celebration of graduating LGBTIQA+ students, Sexuality Studies minors, and their allies took place on Sunday, May 9th at 4:00 PM via Zoom. Many thanks to 2021 co-sponsors The Program in Sexuality Studies, The Provost’s Committee on LGBTQ Life, and Student Life and Leadership for their support.
Keynote Speaker K. Tajhi Claybren
We are honored to welcome K. Tajhi Claybren (UNC 2014) as this year's keynote speaker. K. Tajhi is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the field of community health-supporting youth and young adults (ages 12-24); black, indigenous, and communities of color; transgender and non-binary communities; LBGQ communities, and people living with HIV. They are committed to supporting the healing (individual and collective), self-actualization, and liberation of TNB/LGBQ communities of color at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. While at Carolina, she was a Ronald E. McNair Research Scholar, a program assistant for the LGBTQ Center, and the student leader of the Gender Nonspecific Housing Coalition from 2011 to 2013. K. Tajhi earned their Master of Social Work and Social Work Administration from the University of Chicago and is now part of the Integrative Empowerment Group (IEG) therapy collective in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Watch the Keynote Speech
2020-2021 Lavender Graduates
This is an incomplete list of participants in the 2021 Lavender Graduation ceremony. Nearly every year, some participants are unable to be publicly "out" about their membership in or allyship with LGBTIQA+ communities because of varying levels of stigma in their families, social circles, workplaces, religious communities, and/or geographical location. Part of our work is to mitigate and end this barrier so that people of every sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression can participate fully in their communities and societies without discrimination.
Undergraduate Honorees
- Dejah Ball
- Daniel Bowen
- Darian Buck
- Bailey Fattorusso
- Hannah Gahagan
- Brett Harris
- Cadan Holden
- Emma Holt
- Alexander Lin
- Kae Marroquin
- Marceline Martineau
- Kieran Patel
- Morgan Pestyk
- Kaidyn Radford
- Ruchi Sarkar
- Alexandra Simpson
- Ava Smith
- Faith Virago
Graduate and Professional Honorees
- Liam Canty
- Stephanie Chak
- Meg DeMarco
- Jess Epsten
- Adam Hunter
- L.B. Klein
- Ran Levinsky
- Morgan Maccherone
- Aoife O'Connor
- Kimberly Jean Phillips-Weiner
- Alex Ramirez
- Gavin Shelton
- Emily Simmons
- Eve Stoffel
- Jenna Wine