UK cancels events for LGBTQ, Black grads amid Kentucky, Trump anti-DEI pressure
The University of Kentucky has canceled celebrations for minority graduates due to state and federal pressure targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on college campuses.
UK will no longer host programs that honor LGBTQ+, Black and first-generation graduates to be “in accordance with state and federal law,” spokesperson Jay Blanton told the Herald-Leader.
That includes the Lavender Graduation ceremony hosted by the Office of LGBTQ+ Resources, Harambee Unity Graduation Celebration honoring Black students and the First-Generation Student Pinning ceremony. These ceremonies take place before university-wide graduation, and are usually where students receive specialty regalia, like stoles and cords, to wear at commencement.
“Why is UK okay with accepting my gay dollars, but they’re not okay with celebrating a gay person?” Jay Stringer-Vaught, a UK student graduating with a Master’s Degree in Library Science this May, said Friday in an interview with the Herald-Leader.
Earlier this year, the Kentucky legislature passed House Bill 4, banning all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at higher education institutions in Kentucky. The law takes effect early this summer.
The legislature’s move comes as Republicans nationwide have zeroed in on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government, education and business, vowing to eliminate years of emphasis on such programs.
In February, the U.S. The Department of Education directed all public universities receiving federal funding to cancel DEI initiatives after an executive order from President Donald Trump to fight “wokeness.” UK is one of more than 50 universities being investigated by the department for the use of “race-based preference” in educational programs.
“Following a number of federal and state policy changes and directives, the university will no longer host identity-based or special-interest graduation celebrations,” Blanton said. “In the past, these were held outside of our official commencement ceremonies as an optional celebration and social event.”
“We will continue to comply with the law, while celebrating all students and their distinctive achievements at our official commencement ceremonies.”
Minority students affected by ceremony cancellation
Stinger-Vaught could not afford the cost of the required regalia to attend the university-wide Rupp Arena commencement. On top of that, his mother is in a wheelchair, which would make navigating the large ceremony difficult.
Lavender Graduation is a smaller ceremony in a more accessible location where Stringer-Vaught could walk across a stage and celebrate his years of hard work with his family. But now that won’t happen.
“I feel angry, I feel betrayed, I feel hurt as a student at the University of Kentucky,” he said.
“It feels like a slap in the face.”
Canceling affinity graduation ceremonies will harm marginalized communities, Brooke Jennett, a Transylvania University Alum who lives in Lexington, wrote to UK administrators in a scathing email Friday.
Jennett said UK is throwing marginalized communities to the wind by getting rid of a “very small way the university is able to show that it gives a shit about marginalized students.”
The university has the power and the incentive to put pressure on the Trump administration and lawmakers in Frankfort, Jennett said, and by submitting to “theoretical” political pressure, the university is showing it doesn’t care about its minority communities.
“You’re happy to take their money, but you won’t stand with them. The second your marginalized students are threatened for the identity that you pretended to support and celebrate, you’ll turn on them,” she said.
“You’ll let them know that the University of Kentucky isn’t the place for them after all — and maybe it never was.”
UK removes websites related to Black, LGBTQ+ identity resources
UK has also removed websites that promote identity-based resources for students, like the LGBTQ+ Resources page and the Martin Luther King Center page. The center works with students from all backgrounds and hosts events centered around cultural awareness, leadership and community.
Both websites featured information on campus events, programs and scholarships hosted by the organizations.
You can still find the links on Google, but when you click on them, the webpages are labeled as “under construction” and provide little to no information on the respective offices.
UK has also completely removed the websites for the Harambee Unity Graduation Ceremony and the Lesch Lending Library, which focuses on LGBTQ+ authors and stories.
“Scrubbing affinity graduation services and DEI information from your website isn’t actually going to erase this from reality,” Jennett said in the email. “When this is all over, your legacy will be that of a cowardly institution, one that has no interest in anything, except the bottom line.”
“The University of Kentucky will not protect its marginalized students. They will not use their power to shield them. They will not be a safe harbor through (Trump’s) administration.”
Stringer-Vaught said the erasure of the Office of LGBTQ+ Resources website harms students and doesn’t protect the university. He said university officials told him the website would be back up “after all this blows over.”
Blanton said sites are being revised to reflect changes in state and federal law. He also said some websites are being revised as part of reorganizing at the university level.
“MLK — for example — was moved to Student Success as part of an alignment to ensure all student support services were housed in the same place. Part of that alignment includes making sure that websites within the same administrative structure have a consistent web architecture and design,” he said. “That takes time and is not uncommon during a reorganization.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 2:42 PM.