“Lavender Week,” a celebration of LGBTQ+ culture, will be held Oct. 19-23 at the University of Lynchburg. Most events are for the campus community only.
Events include a screening of the award-winning documentary, “The Lavender Scare,” based on a book of the same name by David K. Johnson. After the film, Johnson will host a virtual Q&A session. He also will present the annual gender studies lecture during Lavender Week. Johnson’s lecture is titled, “LGBT Presidential Politics: From the Cold War to Pete Buttigieg.”
The virtual lecture “extends Johnson’s historical research, presented in his book and in the documentary, into contemporary politics,” Dr. Beth Savage, director of the Westover Honors College, said.
“Lavender Artists,” an exhibit of reproduction poster prints by LGBTQ+ artists, will be on display in the Daura Museum of Art. The exhibit includes work by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Marie Laurencin, Tamara de Lempicka, John Singer Sargent, Grant Wood, and others.
The exhibit is open to the public. The Daura Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday.
The Daura Museum also will host an art activity for Lavender Week, “Drawing Out.”
Spiritual Life will offer an interactive “Wall of Oppression,” where, as Interfaith Chaplain Jer Bryant put it, “students can reflect on the word ‘oppression,’ while also adding what the word means to them on an emotional and spiritual level.”
Bryant also will host a “Blessing of the Rainbow Chairs” at Westover Hall. At the event, Bryant will bless Adirondack chairs that have been painted in rainbow colors.
“This week is so fantastic because it’s drawn staff and student groups from all over campus to work together to provide creative and immersive activities around LGBTQ+ experiences,” Savage said.
