WSU’s LGBTQ Center held a Lavender Graduation on April 18 in the Compton Union Building Junior Ballroom. Free food and drinks, including a special lavender cake, were provided as students were given time to chat before the ceremony started.
Several guest speakers took to the stage to talk about the importance of the event and how they have overcome their own hardships.
Josie Cohen-Rodriguez, LGBTQ+ Student Life & Community Coordinator, introduced the speakers.
Dr. N.A. Miller, English and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies assistant professor, started the speeches by sharing their stories of overcoming hardships and the pride they felt for the event and the community at WSU.
Next up, Susana Martinez, psychology and women gender and sexuality major, caused some teary-eyed reactions in the audience with her speech about dealing with today’s political climate.
Fine Arts graduate Sara St Clair, shared moments of what got her by during the scary times throughout this semester.
She ended her talk with some informal words of motivation.
“It’s cool to care, y’all,” St. Clair said.
Architecture student Dorothy Greenhalge, began their speech with some nerves, yet they managed to power through and had the audience cheering throughout.
“If my voice shakes, I’m going to talk anyway,” they said.
Greenhalge thanked The Center for all their work at WSU, calling it a highlight of their college experience, before celebrating their fellow graduates.
“I’m a first-generation student, so it’s never lost on me what an accomplishment this is, to get a degree,” Greenhalge said. “When I was asked to speak here today, the first thing that I thought of was last year’s Lavender Graduation. One of the speakers, I think very bravely, added that academia cannot, or will not, save us. I love school, I think we all, obviously, do. I love learning.”
It was a feeling that I recognised and I do a lot more so now, they said.
“I think we all probably relate to the frustration of trying to accomplish something so intense as a degree while our community and our friends are suffering. The feeling of writing an essay on the back of the news of our rights being taken away … thinking, why am I on campus right now, like, this is crazy,” they said.
They added that their time on the Palouse has changed them forever through witnessing the joy and solidarity in the area. Ending their talk, they quoted Sylvia Rivera to leave the audience with some powerful words to consider.
