Lavender Graduation is an annual ceremony conducted on numerous campuses to honor queer and trans students to acknowledge their achievements and contributions as they graduate their degrees. The Lavender Graduation Ceremony was created by Dr. Ronni Sanlo, a Jewish Lesbian, who was denied the opportunity to attend the graduations of her biological children because of her sexual orientation.

The Queer & Trans Graduate Student Group hosted the 2025 Lavender Graduation Ceremony at the University of Manitoba on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. The ceremony was be held at the Brodie Centre Atrium located at 727 McDermot Avenue starting at 10:00 AM.. In 2025, 27 Lavender Grads were registered.

Any University of Manitoba students (at any level, including undergraduate and graduate students) who identified as 2SLGBTQIA+ who have graduated in the Fall 2024/Spring 2025, or will be graduating in Summer 2025/Fall 2025 were welcome to be a graduate this ceremony. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail Mikayla Hunter (she/they) at hunterm7@myumanitoba.ca 

Funding and the support for this event was provided by the Queer + Trans Graduate Student Group, the Centre for Human Rights Research, the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, and the Alan Klass Memorial Program in Health Equity.