Since 2021, Salt Lake Community College’s Queer Student Association and the Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center have worked together to host a Lavender Graduation for queer graduates — until this year.

The Lavender Graduation ceremony takes place on numerous college campuses each year to honor LGBTQ+ students and allies. However, when the GSSRC started promoting its event, they were told to stop.

Lavender Graduation cancellation

Peter Moosman, the GSSRC coordinator, shared some of the reasons and frustrations that led to the cancellation.

“HB 261 happened. HB 261 banned exclusive things. [The bill] even mentioned graduation celebrations, you know, really targeting,” Moosman said. “So, with the Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center pivoting … from an LGBT resource center [and] a women’s resource center … to a resource center for all students through the lens of gender and sexuality, we figured we could pivot our [Lavender Graduation] to a GSSRC grad, and that would satisfy HB 261, allowing us to still host our event.”

HB 261, the “Equal Opportunity Initiatives” bill sponsored by Rep. Katy Hall, R-South Ogden, “prohibits an institution of higher education, the public education system, and a government employer from taking certain actions in engaging in discriminatory practices.”

Moosman said the “Dear Colleague Letter” — a letter from the Department of Education and the presidential administration for education —   states that any event, program, or resource exclusively catering to a specific race is deemed discriminatory and prohibited by law. Moosman argued that because the letter specifically discussed race, it shouldn’t have applied to the GSSRC.

The center mentioned that the Division of Student Affairs streamlined all small graduation celebrations but thought that the GSSRC would be justified in moving forward with their Lavender Graduation, since it differed from the DOSA event on May 2.

“[Lavender Graduation] was more intimate and connective, and we still felt that part of this national tradition. Part of the GSSRC’s tradition was holding this [event], and so we wanted to continue to do that,” said Moosman.

The last SLCC Lavender Graduation was held on April 24, 2024, in the Student Forum on the South City Campus. Food was provided and games were held in the courtyard. Recent legislation caused the cancellation of the ceremony for 2025. (Michael Nelson)

Kathie Campbell, the associate vice president for Student Success at SLCC, said that due to restrictions, the college wanted to pool resources and hold a combined celebration that involved all clubs.

“We really felt compelled, based on the law, to say, ‘Now we really need to get everybody under this umbrella,’” said Campbell.

Marjorie Wilson, co-president of QSA and a biology major, said that the celebrations can still be held without them being identity-based.

“There is the further complication that HB 261 will mean that the school can’t be spending money on identity-based graduation ceremonies,” said Wilson. “I think celebrations should be fine.”

Wilson wanted to adapt the language of the ceremony name to keep the graduation. The Lavender Graduation was going to be renamed to the GSSRC graduation to comply with the bill.

“We thought about how we make changes to language we use in a way that can … just provide clarity for people who are curious, and not as informed, and looking in from the outside — that this is a center that truly is, and always has been, welcoming to all students. It’s for everyone. Everyone has a gender. Everyone has a sexuality,” said Wilson.

Kai Lyon, co-president of QSA and an environmental science major, believes Lavender Graduations are part of a larger context regarding queer history.

“I think it’s really important as a historical celebration — teaching people about this type of [circumstance], and how we have been oppressed in the past, and how we need to remember ways that we can show each other support without necessarily breaking the rules,” shared Lyon. “That’s really what angers me, because it feels really like they’re saying, ‘even though you’re not breaking the rules, you can’t do that.’”

Discontent with communication

Wilson felt the sudden cancellation added unnecessary stress to students.

“It’s up to students to say, ‘Hey, wait, like, whoa, hold the reins. Let’s talk about this. Let’s see if this is necessary. Let’s see if this makes sense. Let’s see if this is supporting students,’” said Wilson.

Though everyone is adapting to the changes that bills and regulations have placed on higher education, the disconnect in communication has left students frustrated. Wilson argued for a communication model where students are involved sooner, before discussions happen and to gather feedback.

Campbell said the immediate response required from colleges regarding the new laws caused some disconnect with the messaging to the student leaders.

“We should have at least said, ‘Hey, this also impacts this.’ It should have [happened], right? We’re here for students. That’s why we do what we do,” said Campbell. “Our intent never was to cancel anything. We never want to cancel celebrating student success.”

Lyon expressed frustration over the disconnect.

“People above make these decisions without ever asking … and expecting us to put in the work to fix it,” said Lyon. “I just feel like the communication is often too little, too late.”

Why smaller graduations matter to students

In an Instagram post, the QSA shared how SLCC’s Student Affairs canceled smaller graduations in favor of a single “combined” celebration, which doesn’t allow for personal plans and aspects that smaller celebrations can.

The QSA started a student-led email campaign to petition for the allowance of smaller cohort graduations. The club also opened a survey to hear from fellow students about the issue, letting students submit responses anonymously.

Wilson said some of the survey responses have already shown that smaller graduations motivate students to finish school.

“I am already hearing from students that these ceremonies help them to stay in school and help them to even conceptualize that they can really do college and be a graduate, but also to find the cohort of people that they interact with regularly,” said Wilson. “And being able to look forward to that small acknowledgement.”

According to some of the survey responses, smaller graduations are beneficial to students who may not want to come out to their families at a large public gathering.

“Students want their family to be able to come to like, the major graduation, but they want to be celebrated more openly with friends on a smaller basis,” said Wilson.

GSSRC opts out of cultural graduation event

To protest HB 261, Fernando Rodriguez Camarena, president of the Native Indigenous Student Union, joined with other clubs to hold the "We Write Our Own Stories" graduation event in April.

“Normally, we would do separate events — but because of lack of money, lack of people helping us and with [the presidential] administration currently right now, making students feel unwelcome [...] because of the immigration laws that are starting to happen. A lot of us feel down,” he said. 

Camarena said the goal of the collaboration was to support one another and create a community among the clubs. After learning the GSSRC wouldn't have its own celebration, he invited them to join the combined event.

“When I heard that Lavender wasn't happening or they're not sure it's going to happen, I didn't want to leave our queer students alone,” said Camarena.

While the "We Write Our Own Stories" event was initially intended for cultural groups, he invited all identity-based clubs, emphasizing the connection between queerness and culture.

“It's not just being queer — your culture, your history and just your background and your family all have something to do with it. Finding queerness is your own thing. But being queer often intermixes with other sources,” said Camarena.

Although the GSSRC supports the NISU, they declined to participate in the cultural celebration, feeling it did not encompass their goal of reinstating the Lavender Graduation.

Pearl Ashton wrote this story as a student of Salt Lake Community College.

When Salt Lake Community College point guard Chase Adams was in seventh grade, a video of him showcasing his spectacular ball handling was posted on the YouTube basketball channel BallislifeMidwest.

In the video — which currently has over 16 million views — Adams breaks ankles, ball fakes and runs circles around competitors who towered over him. Already well-known among the Chicago basketball circle at the time, his popularity grew significantly after the video went viral.

“In Chicago, everybody knew who I was, but after that video, it made things national,” Adams said. “I was only in seventh grade. I got my first [college] offer when I was in eighth grade from Bradley University.”

As one of the highest-ranked point guards in the nation coming into ninth grade, Adams started high school optimistically, but he said everything changed when his brother — who Adams called his best friend — passed away of a grand mal seizure.

“I wasn’t really connected with basketball,” Adams said. “I was kind of out of it mentally, and it took me a while to bounce back from that. To be honest with you, I’m still working on it. That was the biggest reason why I fell off a little bit.”

After high school, Adams played for a year at the University of Portland but entered the transfer portal after his coach was fired. Adams originally had no interest going to junior college, even rejecting SLCC head coach Kyle Taylor’s initial offer to join the Bruins. But after some reflection, Adams decided SLCC was the best fit for him.

“The difference was, coach Kyle said he was going to get players around me, and we were going to have a team full of players that were hungry, coming from Division I programs like myself, and in the same boat as me,” Adams said. “That was exciting to hear, because I know they would have a chip on their shoulder like me.”

Today, Adams is a business marketing major and leader of the best junior college basketball team in the nation, a team that also stands undefeated.

“Chase has been phenomenal,” Taylor said. “He’s a leader, he’s a winner and he works incredibly hard.”

Adams’ leadership influences the rest of his teammates, according to Bruins guard Jordan Brinson.

“Chase is the type of person that’s always going to make sure you’re okay and try to bring the best out of you,” he said. “Chase and I roomed together in the beginning of the year, and both opened to each other and got close. I feel like our relationship off the court as friends helps [us] on the court, because we know how to motivate each other and bring the best out of each other.”

Another teammate of Adams, Doctor Bradley, who is starting small forward and shooting guard, said he sees Adams as a bigger brother.

“[Adams] is always there when I need to talk to him about anything, not just basketball, and I know he’s going to tell the truth,” Bradley said.

The time at SLCC has been just as beneficial to Adams.

His brother’s death is still at the front of his mind, and Adams said it still feels like yesterday. But through the support system found at SLCC, Adams has learned to cope with his loss and let it drive him to become better.

Adams said that SLCC has helped him find his confidence and love for basketball again. Taylor explained how his point guard has grown.

“He has regained his confidence shooting the ball and playmaking,” Taylor said. “We really emphasize coming to JUCO to ‘get healthy,’ and for Chase, that’s been his confidence and his scoring.”

Division I schools like Coastal Carolina, Stetson and Gardner Webb have taken notice of Adams’ elite play and offered him a scholarship to play for their school. With Adams being a sophomore, he will be moving on next season. After all he has endured to regain his confidence, Adams feels ready, once again, to play on basketball’s biggest stage.

Morgan Workman wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.

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At a young age, Carlos Mayorga said, he felt pressured by his family and those close to him to seek a college education. But when Mayorga reached his early 20s, he didn’t feel ready.

“I didn’t come from a family of college-educated people, so I didn’t really have the confidence,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know what classes to sign up for.”

Mayorga isn’t alone, as a growing number of students are waiting to begin their college education. Enrollment numbers of college students aged 25-34 went up 34% between 2001 and 2015, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and those numbers are expected to increase another 11% by 2026.

Mayorga said his decision to wait was also based on changes in his own life. Mayorga came out after graduating from high school, and experiencing dating and relationships while tackling the responsibilities of college — when his heterosexual classmates had done those things in high school — meant that “my college education sometimes struggled.”

Ultimately, Mayorga began his college journey at 26, but other students return to college years or even decades after high school.

Gina Zupan was 53 and held a career for 30 years when she returned to school, after having left in 1977 due to an overwhelming workload.

Zupan promised her parents that she would eventually return to finish her college education, and fulfilling that promise was momentous and emotional, Zupan said.

When Zupan restarted college, she said, she felt out of place. “I got on campus, and it was so huge,” she said. “I didn’t know my way around and being of age it was like, I don’t know where these buildings are, and I don’t know how to get there and who do I ask?”

Gordon Storrs, an academic advisor at Salt Lake Community College, said experiences like Zupan’s are common struggles for older students.

“It’s a tough time for them because they think they’re older,” he said. “They immediately think they’re not going to fit in, [that] they’re going to be there with all those 18- and 19-year-olds, and those 18- and 19-year-olds are going to look down on them. They’re really worried about that.”

Storrs said financial, lifestyle or family background situations can affect why someone might wait to attend college. Any student returning to school, Storrs said, should try to tap into the resources available, including talking to academic advisors who can guide students.

For Zupan’s daughter, Gina Hansen, who returned to school at 34 after a pause during which she had three children, childcare was one of those resources that made a difference.

“I would take my daughter and drop her off and she would go to the daycare, and I would go to my class and then pick her up on my way out,” she said. “They’re very accommodating.”

Once in the classroom, other challenges can arise. Zupan said some students treated her differently because she came from a different generation.

“I remember this one time, we [were] working in a group and a young girl – no matter what I said – she just stopped, and you could just see her roll her eyes like, ‘That is the dumbest idea ever,’” Zupan said.

Zupan said she was reminded by her advisor that her experiences are worth more to a future employer than a degree alone.

After graduating from Utah Valley University, Zupan earned a master’s degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2017. Now 64, Zupan works as an associate clinical mental health counselor.

Hansen graduated from SLCC with an associate degree in 2020. She said she does not regret waiting.

“Would I have maybe benefited from doing things a little bit differently? Sure,” Hansen said. “But I think… and I know my mom has probably said the same thing pretty much – waiting does so much… it truly does.”

Like Zupan, Mayorga eventually sought graduate school. After graduating from SLCC and the University of Utah, he worked as a journalist for several years — including an 18-month stretch reporting for The Salt Lake Tribune — before earning a graduate degree from Columbia University.

Mayorga recommended anyone wanting to pursue higher education to do so, no matter the age.

“If college is something that you truly want,” he said, “if it is something that deep down inside of you that you want to accomplish, I highly recommend getting back into college or starting it for the first time.”

Patrick Kennedy wrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. It is published as part of a new collaborative including nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.

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NOTE TO MEDIA PARTNERS PUBLISHING WORK
We also request organizations include the following text either at the beginning or end of the story text:

This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune to elevate diverse perspectives in local media through student journalism. Patrick Kennedywrote this story as a journalism student at Salt Lake Community College. For more stories from Amplify Utah, visit amplifyutah.org/use-our-work.