The Pride Symposium is a half-day welcome and community-building experience designed to provide incoming students with information about the LGBTQ Pride Center, annual events and ways to get involved. Students will learn about LGBTQ+ student organizations on campus, opportunities to volunteer through the Pride Center, and LGBTQ+ resources in the local community. Incoming students will get a chance to connect with each other and hear from returning students about what it’s like to be LGBTQ+ at NC State. This annual event is a great way for students to make new friends, enjoy free food and have some fun.

LGBTQ+ History Month is an annual series of events held each October that are designed to engage students, faculty and staff in learning about the intersections of LGBT history and activism. Be it a lecture, workshop, a film viewing and discussion, or a hands-on event, the Pride Center seeks to create a space for students, faculty and staff to learn about identity, history, community challenges, politics, and strategies for creating change.

Our Futures is an ongoing dialogue between NC State Students and LGBTQ+ community members living and working in the Triangle. On the second Thursday of each month three speakers will join the Pride Center to discuss their identities, passions, and interests around a given theme. Over the course of a semester our three community members will return multiple times to engage with students over a variety of discussion topics. Participants will have the opportunity to converse with the speakers as we co-create what our futures in the LGBTQ+ community look like.

Queer Quorum opens up the Pride Center to a variety of intersectional, student picked discussion topics. The first Monday of every month features a different student dialogue facilitator, who chooses the month’s Queer Quorum topic and leads participants thought-provoking discussion. Interested in leading your own Queer Quorum discussion? Stop by the Pride Center and ask one of our team members how to get involved.

Each November the Pride Center hosts Trans Awareness Week in order to bring attention to the experiences of the transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming communities. This week of events includes education and advocacy efforts to teach the NC State community about the challenges facing transgender students and community members. Trans Awareness Week includes the Pride Center’s annual observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance on or around November 20th.

Transgender Day of Visibility occurs on March 31 each year. This event is dedicated to celebrating transgender, genderqueer, non-binary, gender questioning, and agender people and raising awareness of our resilience, passions, and contributions to the world.

Lavender Graduation is an annual celebration intended to bring the entire LGBTQ+ community together to celebrate the success of our students. ANY LGBTQ+ STUDENT can participate in Lavender Graduation. (Students don’t need to have been involved in any LGBTQ+ student organizations or have engaged with the Pride Center prior to graduation.) We invite all LGBTQ+ graduates to participate and be recognized.

History of Lavender Graduation
Lavender Graduation is an annual ceremony conducted on numerous campuses to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and ally students and to acknowledge their achievements and contributions to the university. The Lavender Graduation Ceremony was created by Dr. Ronni Sanlo at the University of Michigan in 1995. The annual ceremony was created to recognize LGBT students and acknowledge their achievements and contributions to the university.