Welcome...

Hello all Campus Pride peeps! In all it's fabulousness, this week's edition of Queer it Up Friday!...

• HOT LIST! Vidur Kapur, Comedian
• College admissions offices court gay students
• Time for Celebration: Honoring LGBT graduates
• Let us feature your campus!

Check out this week's great features after the jump...

HOT LIST! Vidur Kapur, Comedian

Vidur Kapur was selected as a New York finalist by NBC's "Stand Up for Diversity" initiative and performed as part of the famous New York Comedy Festival where he was described as "A comedian to remember". After an phenomenally successful showcase at the NACA National convention, Vidur's act is being demanded by colleges all over the US and he is likely to be one of the top 3 acts booked on US college campuses for '08 -'09.

Learn more about Vidur: http://www.vidurkapur.com

College admissions offices court gay students

by By Sara Lipka, Chronicle of Higher Education
Most college fairs don't feature drag performers in habits. But on a Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, "sisters" mingle with prospective students in a courtyard dotted with fan palms. The recruits pick up rainbow pamphlets about resources at Michigan State University, coming-out stories by Carleton College students and alumni, and events listings for the California Institute of Technology's annual "Gaypril."

Read the rest at the Chronicle of Higher Education:
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Court-Gay-Students/127336/

Time for Celebration: Honoring LGBT graduates

by Ronnie Sanlo, Ph. D.

It was like magic. Who would have thought that such an event would take place here as an official UCLA commencement?

Such a simple concept: to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students for the gifts they brought to campus and for the achievements they had as a result of having been in college. So simple a way to tell students they matter…

This was so fantastic! I got chills! I’ll be there when I graduate.

Until 1995, there were no ceremonies to honor our LGBT students. There were ceremonies for students of various ethnicities and for other non-academic groups like ROTC, but nothing for our students, those who tend to feel to most disenfranchised from their colleges and universities.

My parents finally understand why I’m out. Thank You!

Unfortunately, there are no data that describe positive celebratory events in the lives of LGBT college students.

It was so inspiring and affirming. I loved it! Thanks for a wonderful memory.

In fact, scant literature describes celebratory experiences in the general LGBT culture(s). LGBT students usually experience the culture of their ethnic, racial, religious, or national backgrounds, but rarely experience a university-supported event directly associated with their lives as LGBT people and LGBT students.

I finally feel like I belong at UCLA, ironically, just as I am leaving.

Celebration events provide significant impact on the lives of students. Lavender Graduation is an event to which LGBT students look forward, where they not only share their hopes and dreams with one another, but are officially recognized by the institution for their leadership and their successes and achievements.

I felt very honored to be part of Lavender Graduation.

When I was director of the LGBT campus resource center at the University of Michigan years ago, I realized that LGBT students deserved to be recognized not only for their achievements but for surviving their college years. As the planning of commencement activities for 1995 took place, I saw an opportunity to include LGBT students in the celebratory process.

Many ethnic groups were hosting their own ceremonies, so why not us? I often heard from LGBT students that they didn’t feel connected to the university nor their departments or even to their ethnic groups so they choose not to participate in commencement ceremonies. LGBT students said their journeys through college as out people had been painful enough. They wanted to leave quickly and quietly.

This was so encouraging. I can’t wait until my own Lavender Graduation in two years.

I am a lesbian Jewish mother. I love celebrations, so I created Lavender Graduation, an event that intersects both my religion and my sexual orientation. Lavender is important to LGBT history. It combines the pink triangle that gay men were forced to wear and the black triangle designating lesbians as political prisoners in Nazi Germany. LGBT activists took these symbols of hatred, combined them, and created a symbol and color of pride and community.

It felt great being here. I felt like my work was worth it, that I finally counted here.

When I moved to UCLA in 1997 as the director of the LGBT Campus Resource Center, I brought Lavender Graduation with me. With national keynote speakers, entertainment, leadership awards, and rainbow tassels, the event became an instant and popular success.

I’m here because I wanted to support and congratulate my friends. I know they’ll be here for my Lavender Graduation.

Over the years since the first ceremony in 1995, Lavender Graduates have only continued to grow.  Campus Pride student leaders and members of the National Consortium of Directors of Resources in Higher Education have begun hosting Lavender Graduations celebrations at their institutions as well.

I went to Lavender Graduation and really got inspired to start doing something active in the community.

My vision is that Lavender Graduation will be an annual celebration at every college and university in the country and that the lives of our LGBT students will be fully honored. Since LGBT students are of every race, ability, nationality, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic levels, Lavender Graduation provides a unique opportunity to present a truly multicultural event while acknowledging students who spent most of their college years succumbing to invisibility on their campuses.

Totally inspirational.

Lavender Graduation makes a strong institutional statement to LGBT college students: It tells them that they matter.

I just want to thank you for an amazing Lavender ceremony. It was fun and personal, an experience that I’ll never forget.

src: http://www.campuspride.org/lavender_grad.asp

Let us feature your campus!

Do you have stories, experiences, tips or tricks like Rachel and Tommy? We want to feature student leaders, campus organizations and other student-led and -initiated efforts! We want to praise your successes and examine your challenges. Profiling them here gives other students the opportunity to learn from your mistakes as well as your achievements. All-in-all, we can help each other make better campuses and communities for LGBTQ people! If your student-led campus or community group has something to share, shoot an email off to matt@campuspride.org.

Want more? Check out our past Queer It Up! coverage.