Recently, on May 14th, Mason held their first Lavender Graduation. This is quite historic for Mason and Virginia. Many members of the administration attended the event including the VP of University Life- Sandy Hubler and Rose Pascarell- Associate Vice President of University Life. I got the chance to inverview via e-mail one of the speakers- Brian Picone.

CP: How does it feel to be a speaker at Mason's first LavGrad?

Picone: There are a lot of reactions that I had to being a speaker at Mason's Lavender Graduation. Perhaps my primary reaction is a type of temporal shock--meaning, it confused my sense of how time works, and how life is organized by time. It was initially strange to have this ceremony after four years of being supported by a strong LGBTQ community at Mason, and it was hard to shake off the feeling that I needed it more after high school graduation than I did now. But in making sense of it, it becomes clear to me that time and memory do not follow this kind of linear, chronological organization. Four years ago, I was graduating from high school, a place where LGBTQ people suffer from a suffocatingly anti-queer/trans, heterosexist environment. The desire within me for some kind of recognition that I not only survived high school--but also homophobia--was very strong at that point. Yet it was at the end of college--four years later--that we as queer people were given that kind of recognition. In many ways, this changed how time worked in my brain, made me see that the pain of being oppressed does not fall away in a linear fashion, and that two events that are greatly distant in time can feel so close to one another. Of course, I am certain that we have all experienced anti-queer hatred in college--I hear "that's so gay" often in the JC, have been called a fag and we have all seen the preacher come on campus to spout anti-gay "religious"-based epithets against us. We have all read the Broadside articles written by Michael Gryboski, who maddeningly pretends to "tolerate" us while also claiming that he warrants space for "disagreeing with homosexuality." But we have largely been supported at Mason--and the need for a Lavender Graduation (at least for me) is based on a recognition that we must actively affirm those who have been stigmatized and erased.

CP: Why is it important to have a LavGrad?

Picone: For me, the reason why it is important to have a Lavender Graduation is tied to my previous answer. The wounds that we have suffered as a diverse LGBTQ community--both past and present--will not be healed by silence. We must be actively affirmed for our survival in a country (and perhaps many parts of a global community) where the culture seeks our elimination. The very fact that we remain breathing constitutes a resistance to the cultural genocide of homophobia and transphobia. The fact that some of us (of course, not all of us) have made it to graduation while also constantly dealing with our various oppressions is nothing short of miraculous to me. The full-time job of dealing with the ills inflicted upon us by a culture of exclusion hinders many of us. It is the difference between walking with the currents of a vast ocean--or walking against it, each earth-shaking step loud and jarring to those around us, each step heavy and painful for those whose bodies are marked as Other. So long as we are "tolerated" rather than embraced--so long as we are swept under a general mantra of diversity, we remain unnamed. We are erased, again. Having a Lavender Graduation goes against the idea that dealing with homophobia is our problem, and our problem alone. It openly affirms our difference, rather than assuming that "we are all the same," an idea that depoliticizes and indeed, leads to nothing but further erasure.

CP:How did it feel to have your family members there?

Picone: I had mixed reactions to having my family there. First and foremost, I am very grateful to have something that every person--queer and heterosexual--deserves, which is a supportive family. Grateful perhaps isn't the right word, because it seems to me that no one should be "grateful" for something they are entitled to--respect and unconditional love as a people. But it is all that I can come up with, particularly because there were so many people in the audience who would forever long for the kind of family I have. It is all I can come up with because I know, each waking day, that I would have never made it to where I am without the support of my mother, my father and my brother. The many psychological, spiritual and emotional problems that stem from living in a society that hates you are too often for queer people never healed, never worked through with a supportive community or family. For me, this long list of problems--including an eating disorder in high school, life-long depression and an anxiety disorder that plagued me throughout college--would be crushing without the tireless work of my mother, primarily. Having them there seemed appropriate, because they have been such an integral part of my "success"--but more accurately, they have been such an integral part of my survival.

CP: What do you think this occasion means for Mason and for other universities?

Picone: Mason has made great progress in becoming a very LGBTQ affirming campus. Over the years, people like Rebecca Walter, Ric Chollar, Rose Pascarell and Jen Bernard have worked very hard to implement the programs that have sustained me here. The drag show that I have performed in twice at Mason would not have been possible without the initiative of Mason students several years ago. I think it's really exciting that students coming into Mason will know about Lavender Graduation when they enroll. I think it's also very exciting that we had so many allies present at the event that also work for University administration--such as Sandra Hubler (VP of University Life) and Dennis Webster (Associate Dean for University Life).

For other Universities in the state of Virginia, this is going to pose a challenge. George Mason University has made great strides in a state that has no state-wide protection for LGBTQ faculty or staff. Especially with the recent gay-bashing at UVA and the chilling hate-crimes statistics released by the FBI in 2007 (1,265 hate crimes related to sexual orientation), I believe that there is no excuse for a lack of action on the part of universities to validate and protect their queer and trans students. The fact that Mason is getting something right--and actually, many things right--should be a serious wake up call to universities who are lagging behind.

CP: How do you define pride?

Picone: This is important. Pride is the foundation of an event like Lavender Graduation, and so understanding Pride is vital in understanding why Lavender Graduation is so necesasry. I would define Pride as the ownership of an identity that has been stigmatized, spoiled, oppressed, marginalized, or otherwise denied a right to exist. Pride does not have to be a public declaration--there are people who do not want to label themselves, who cannot come out or see no point in the coming out process. For others of us, Pride must be public. It is different for each person and differs according ideology, life circumstances, and the types of identities in question. But I would say that Pride is not just "loving oneself." A friend once said to me, "How can you be Proud of something if that's just who you are?" I would say against that kind of sentiment that Pride is not simply loving oneself, but rather, must be understood in relation to an experience of marginalization and stigma. Resisting erasure in a world that either doesn't consider you at all, or openly opposes your existence, requires an antidote to this erasure. One antidote to the erasure of queerness is to be proud of it--to be proud of one's survival, to hold dearly to oneself that which the world thinks is most revolting. To me, that is Pride. It is openly affirming ourselves, reminding ourselves that we have a full right to exist and that this resistance is something to celebrate. And there we have a ceremony like Lavender Graduation.

CP: Any other thoughts or comments on the occasion that you would like me to add?

Picone: A big part of my speech was about the people who were not at the Lavender Graduation--about the unavoidable fact that the LGBTQ community (in DC and yes, also at Mason) has some work to do in terms of fighting other forms of oppression. The speech that I gave was half about celebrating "our" survival--those of us who made it to the event. The other half was about the people who weren't there--the people who didn't make it to college for a host of reasons, those who felt unwelcome in Pride for many reasons. Living in my various LGBTQ communities in this area has taught me, quite plainly, that there are members of our community who do not embrace all of its members, nor the call to social justice that this embrace would require. In the DC Metro Area, including George Mason, I have heard endless comments directed at fat/chubby/larger people, people who were in intergenerational relationships, people perceived to be "ugly," people who are working class or perceived to be "trashy," among others. I have also seen great resistance to the challenge that some people of color have brought to Pride: that it is mostly a white space. This is numerically true; people of color are very much underrepresented in our Pride Alliance. I think that this is something we all need to work on--including myself. I also want to make the point, however, that I am not slapping the label of "exclusive" onto us--the one value that society reluctantly gives to the LGBTQ community seems to be how inclusive we are. I don't want to take that away. It's also not accurate that we are "exclusive"--despite blatant issues that need to be worked through, so many of us participate in all forms of social justice work on campus, and it makes me very proud to see that. Our sensitivity to being excluded has helped us survive, because we are always navigating our position as an excluded, stigmatized people. But now we must use this sensitivity as a force of empathy--a way for us to build coalition with others and see oppression as connected. And that is something I believe we are all prepared to do as we graduate not only from George Mason University, but also from the LGBTQ community here.

For more information and coverage of the graduation visit: http://www.connect2mason.com/content/mason-holds-first-lavender-graduation