{"396201":{"#nid":"396201","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lavender Graduation Celebrates LGBTQIA Graduates, Community","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs Commencement draws near to honor all Georgia Tech students who are graduating this semester, another event will specifically honor Tech\u2019s LGBTQIA graduates and those who have worked to make Tech a better place for them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s third annual Lavender Graduation, hosted by the LGBTQIA Resource Center, takes place Thursday, April 16, and will present its inaugural Lavender Awards, which honor faculty, students, staff, and alumni who have made significant contributions to LGBTQIA safety, equity, and inclusion on campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are so many amazing individuals who work tirelessly to make campus a safer place for LGBTQIA students and employees, and thus far, there has been no formal way to recognize them for their efforts,\u201d said Aby Parsons, director of the LGBTQIA Resource Center. \u201cLavender Graduation this year will be both an opportunity to celebrate our graduates and to express our gratitude to the unsung heroes of Tech\u2019s LGBTQIA and ally communities.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe ceremony is meant to honor the accomplishments of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and ally graduates and serve as a complement to other celebrations during Commencement season. This year, 19 graduating students will participate in the ceremony, the largest number yet, and more than 100 guests are expected to attend.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThose being honored as award winners at the ceremony have been notified, save for one special honoree. This person will be surprised with an award \u2014 named for them \u2014 at the celebration.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re expecting some pretty emotional scenes on Thursday,\u201d Parsons said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe first Lavender Graduation in the U.S. was held at the University of Michigan in 1995. Since then, more than 100 institutions have adopted the tradition on their campuses. Georgia Tech\u2019s first two celebrations were a collaborative effort involving the Office of Student Diversity Programs, the Office of Institute Diversity, GT Pride Alumni, and student organizations Pride Alliance and oSTEM.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELearn more about Georgia Tech\u2019s LGBTQIA Resource Center at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.lgbtqia.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ewww.lgbtqia.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E. To attend Lavender Graduation,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/lgbtqia.gatech.edu\/plugins\/rsvp\/\u0022\u003ERSVP online\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe inaugural Lavender Awards will be given at this year\u0027s event.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The inaugural Lavender Awards will be given at this year\u0027s event."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2015-04-14 17:11:09","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:58","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"396191":{"id":"396191","type":"image","title":"I \u003C3 GT Pride Alliance","body":null,"created":"1449246361","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:26:01","changed":"1475895112","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:52","alt":"I \u003C3 GT Pride Alliance","file":{"fid":"75676","name":"gtpride.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/gtpride.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/gtpride.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":265261,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/gtpride.jpg?itok=Bc_lNbvE"}},"396171":{"id":"396171","type":"image","title":"Lavender Graduation","body":null,"created":"1449246361","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:26:01","changed":"1475895112","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:52","alt":"Lavender Graduation","file":{"fid":"75675","name":"lavender_logo_2015.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lavender_logo_2015.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lavender_logo_2015.png","mime":"image\/png","size":6695,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/lavender_logo_2015.png?itok=lxKoXstq"}}},"media_ids":["396191","396171"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/lgbtqia.gatech.edu\/content\/8\/lavender-graduation","title":"About Lavender Graduation"},{"url":"http:\/\/lgbtqia.gatech.edu\/","title":"LGBTQIA Resource Center"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"736","name":"diversity"},{"id":"88701","name":"LGBTQIA"},{"id":"166847","name":"students"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}