UPCOMING EVENT: Lavender Graduation 2021 – May 9th @ 4pm

Lavender Graduation 2021

Please register by the end of Sunday April 18th. See link below.

Carolina’s sixteenth annual Lavender Graduation celebrating LGBTQIA+ and allied student contributions will be held on Sunday, May 9th, 2021 at 4:00 pm.

Lavender Graduation is a commencement ceremony honoring graduating LGBTIQA+ 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 LGBTIQA+ Advocacy Awards and Sexuality Studies Awards are announced during the ceremony. This year’s ceremony is hosted co-presented by the LGBTQ Center, the Program in Sexuality Studies, the Provost Committee for LGBTQ Life, and Student Life and Leadership.

Keynote Speaker

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.

Graduate Gift Box

Since we cannot hold Lavender Graduation in person this year, we are offering graduating participants the option of having their gifts shipped. This year’s gift bundle includes a 2021 rainbow graduation tassel, a copy of Pauli Murray’s Song in a Weary Throat, purple decorations to adorn your space during the ceremony, a certificate of participation, and a ceremony program. To protect participant privacy (particularly those who live in unsupportive households) gifts will be shipped in plain USPS boxes.

Participation Details 

The ceremony will be held live via Zoom. Registered participants will be given a link to share with their guests. 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.

Key Dates

  • The LGBTQ Center will accept participant registrations until Sunday, April 18th at 11:59 pm.
  • The audience invitation and registration link will be released by Friday, April 30th.
  • The 2021 Lavender Graduation ceremony will be held virtually on Sunday, May 9th at 4:00 pm. 

Eligibility Requirements

Participants must be approved to graduate in the most recent Fall semester or the current Spring semester.

Participants must be one of the following at UNC-Chapel Hill:

  • Undergraduate student
  • Graduate student
  • Professional student
  • Doctoral candidate

How to Register as a Graduate

Register at go.unc.edu/LavGrad to be included in the ceremony. For more information please visit the LGBTQ Center’s Lavender Graduation page.