About
Lavender Graduation is a commencement ceremony honoring graduating LGBTQIA+ and allied students. It is a cultural celebration that acknowledges the achievements and contributions that students of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions have made at Carolina. Recipients of the LGBTQIA+ Advocacy Awards are announced during the ceremony.
Eligibility
- Must be approved to graduate in the most recent Fall semester or the current Spring semester.
- Must be one of the following at UNC-Chapel Hill:
- Undergraduate student
- Graduate student
- Professional student
- Doctoral candidate
Participant Benefits
Registered participants receive a bundle of gifts that typically include:
- a rainbow graduation stole
- a commemorative journal
Consenting participants are also listed on the LGBTQ Center website.
Ceremony
Check back here for more information about Lavender Graduation taking place in Spring of 2026!
Registration
Registration to walk at Lavender Graduation begins in March of 2026. Participants can register with a legal or chosen name, customize how they are honored during the ceremony, and designate the amount of visibility they are comfortable with.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Lavender?
Lavender is important to LGBTQ history. It combines the pink triangle that gay men were forced to wear and the black triangle that lesbians were forced to wear while political prisoners in Nazi Germany. LGBTQ activists took these symbols of hatred, combined them, and created a symbol and color of pride and community.
How did Lavender Graduation start?
Now tradition at more than 200 colleges and universities across the country, Lavender Graduation began in 1995 at the University of Michigan. Ronni Sanlo, then the Director of the LGBT Campus Resource Center, organized the first Lavender Graduation with three graduates. She initiated Lavender Graduation after being denied access to attend her own children’s graduations due to her sexual orientation and out of a desire to celebrate LGBT students. She has stated that her vision “is that Lavender Graduation will be an annual celebration at every college and university in the country and that the lives of our LGBT students will be fully honored.”
Who can participate in Lavender Graduation at Carolina?
Undergraduate students, Graduate students, Professional students, and Doctoral candidates who graduated in the most recent Fall semester, or are approved to graduate in the current Spring semester.
Who can attend Lavender Graduation at Carolina?
Lavender Graduation ceremonies are typically open to the public. Participants are encouraged to invite their friends, families and loved ones. Individuals from departments and units that co-sponsor Lavender Graduation such as the Program in Sexuality Studies or the Provost Committee for LGBTQ Life, or from departments and units that work closely with the LGBTQ Center or LGBTQIA+ communities are also likely to attend.
Past Lavender Graduates and Ceremonies
- 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! - 2020 Lavender Graduates and Ceremony
Congratulations to Carolina’s 2020 Lavender Graduates! - 2019 Lavender Graduates and Ceremony
Congratulations to Carolina’s 2019 Lavender Graduates! We are so glad that you could join us for this year’s ceremony. We hope you will take the words of our keynote speaker Joy Messinger into the next phase of your journey. Thank you for allowing us to celebrate you!
