Lavender Graduation

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Established at CCNY during Spring 2022, Lavender Graduation is a graduation ceremony celebrating our LGBTQIA+ student graduates, alumni and allies from the current and past academic years. Current students who already have an associates, bachelors, masters, doctorate or medical degree are welcome to join. We also invite faculty and staff to participate in the celebration if they were not able to have a Lavender Ceremony.

The 2nd Annual Lavender Graduation Ceremony to be held on Wednesday, May 24th 2023 at 5pm at Aaron Davis Hall.

Graduates, alumni and faculty/staff interested in participating in the ceremony are invited to register below. Guest and volunteers may also register using the link below:

Registration and Guest RSVP Form

Graduate registration deadline is May 1st.

For more information contact lgbtq@ccny.cuny.edu

What is a Lavender Graduation?

Lavender Graduation is an annual ceremony conducted on numerous campuses to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual, intersex, and ally students and to acknowledge their achievements and contributions to the University. The Lavender Graduation Ceremony was created by Dr. Ronni Sanlo at the University of Michigan in 1995. Today, there are thousands of Lavender Graduation Ceremonies at Colleges and Universities nationwide. Graduating students, including undergraduates and graduates, are invited to take part in the celebration. Stay tuned for more information on how to participate in CCNY's first lavender graduation. If you have any questions, please contact lgbtq@ccny.cuny.edu

Why a Lavender Graduation Ceremony?

Lavender Graduation is a cultural celebration that recognizes LGBTQ+ students and acknowledges their achievements and contributions to the university. Through such recognition, LGBTQ+ students may leave the university with a positive last experience of the institution thereby encouraging them to become involved mentors for current students, as well as contributing alumni.

Lavender Graduation is an event to which LGBTQ+ students share their hopes and dreams with one another, and are officially recognized by the institution for their leadership and their successes and achievements.

The significance of “Lavender”

Lavender isn't just an official CCNY school color (go Beavers!). Lavender is important to LGBTQ+ history! It is a color combination of the pink triangle that gay men were forced to wear in concentration camps and the black triangle designating lesbians as political prisoners in Nazi Germany. The LGBTQ+ civil rights movement took these symbols of hatred and combined them to make symbols and color of pride and community.