The 12th Annual Lavender Celebration & Awards
Join us for our end of year celebration and awards!
Location
The Commons : Skylight
Date & Time
May 19, 2025, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Description
This celebration is in recognition of the achievements of queer / LGBTQIA2+ community at UMBC, which is inclusive of students, faculty, staff, alumni, campus affiliates, and our allies. This year’s graduation celebration will focus on the theme “Power in Queer Joy.”
The 12th Annual Lavender Celebration & Awards
Monday, May 19, 2025
5:30 - 8pm
Skylight, The Commons 3rd Floor
Award nominations will be accepted between March 24 and April 14, 2025. Link to the nomination form is available via i3b’s myUMBC page.
Queer people overcome incredible odds to succeed and make a difference at UMBC. Every May since 2014, this annual celebration has highlighted and reflected upon the wonderful achievements of our queer community together.
This celebration includes:
- Keynote speeches from an undergraduate and graduate student in the community.
- An award component in celebration of the efforts and achievements accomplished in the past year. We have redone the awards for this year’s celebration, and our new award line up now includes awards highlighting inclusive and welcoming faculty and staff, up-and-coming students, students engaging in inclusive excellence and activism, students promoting radical love and belonging, efforts promoting the queer community, and graduating students or faculty/staff who have created a legacy worth celebrating.
- A creative presentation moment in the celebration that highlights a performance, artwork, or other creative endeavor made in the last year by a queer student. We also have a second student showcasing their work, gallery-style, in the Fireside Lounge throughout the event.
- A moment of celebration and farewell for our graduating students, who receive a special token to take forward with them.
Our Lavender Celebration & Awards is just one of countless Lavender events across the globe. According to the Human Rights Campaign, Lavender was created by Dr. Ronni Santo, a Jewish Lesbian who was denied the opportunity to attend the graduations of her biological children because of her sexual orientation. It was through this experience that she came to understand the pain felt by her students. Encouraged by the Dean of Students at the University of Michigan, Dr. Sanlo designed the first Lavender event in 1995.
If you would like to nominate a community member for one of our Affinity Celebration & Awards, you may nominate them here using the Awards Nomination Form or https://forms.gle/hFRQ6z3j7RNaUbvM9. You may submit multiple nominations for the same or different individuals. Please submit all nominations by April 14th, 2025.
For those interested in attending, you can RSVP HERE! Save the date on your calendars! Graduates that RSVP between Monday, April 14th and Monday, April 28th at 6pm will be highlighted during the event and receive honorary graduation cords.
If you have any questions, please email the Lavender Planning Committee co-chairs: Darcie Adams at dadams4@umbc.edu or Zoe Brown at zoebrown@umbc.edu.
This event is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.
