Psychology senior LaShonda Windham was a sophomore in college when she first began to identify as an LBGT individual. And she couldn’t have done it without MSU’s lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender community.
“It gave me a community of support,” Windham said. “It makes it comfortable to be who you are.”
Windham was one of 17 seniors recognized at the Lavender Reception and Mosaic Awards Gala held Saturday afternoon in the Union. Although the Lavender Reception has been going on for several years as a way to recognize graduating seniors who have been active in MSU’s LBGT community, the award ceremony was done for the first time to recognize MSU students and leaders who had supported the community in the past year.
Deanna Hurlbert, the assistant director and LBGT Resource Center liaison, said the event evolved from a need for social support and celebration within the community.
“There are few opportunities for LGBT person to come together with a group of persons who many of them were most significant in getting them through their college years,” Hurlbert said. “(Some people) come because all their student friends are going to be here, but their parents weren’t going to come to their graduation or cut them off or in some way. (They) didn’t want to have contact with them because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity.”
Psychology and Japanese senior Mandy Klein not only was recognized for being a graduating senior, but was one of two recipients for an award honoring outstanding executive board members for her work with People Respecting the Individuality of Students, or PRISM, at MSU. Klein joined PRISM her freshman year through a friend and said the community has been important to her time at MSU.
“It’s a sense of belonging, a sense of home (and) it make the campus more personable,” Klein said. “It’s place to have a smaller, more welcoming setting. It kinda became my family.”
East Lansing City Councilmember Nathan Triplett, the event’s keynote speaker, was recognized for his work in promoting LBGT equality. He helped to pass legislation in January to give all city of East Lansing city employees equal health benefits for them and their partners.
Triplett talked to the group about legal progress made since 2006, when he graduated as an undergraduate from MSU, to protect the rights of the LBGT community, and encouraged students to continue working for change.
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