LGBTQ+ student leadership group started by PRIDE, DEI

By Abigail Chiu     2/25/25 10:46pm

The Lav Team, an LGBTQ+ leadership and outreach student organization, will be launching its pilot program co-created by Rice PRIDE and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

The Lav Team is intended to provide connections and affinity spaces for LGBTQ+ students, especially for specific identity groups and during Orientation Week, according to Juliann Losey, the assistant director for LGBTQ+ Thriving in the DEI office.

Losey said that they developed the idea last semester to build affinity group programming within the residential college system.

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“My gut is telling me, ‘It feels like having something similar to Diversity Facilitators, but specifically focused on LGBTQ issues, could be really helpful,’” Losey said.

Quinn Healy, Lav Team director and general lead for Rice PRIDE, said creating more DEI-focused infrastructure on campus was one of the first ideas brainstormed at a Rice PRIDE meeting after threats to DEI from the Trump administration and the possibility of federal funding cuts.

“What we were thinking about is not only strengthening the sense of community on campus and creating a pathway towards queer leadership and community involvement post-graduation but also creating a space of safety, like a safety net,” said Healy, a Martel College senior.

Rice PRIDE did not respond to requests for comment.

The Lav Team is intended to bridge gaps in the Rice LGBTQ+ community and bring people together in a centralized way, Losey said.

“There’s a lot of one-to-one connection, wherever anybody is at in their LGBTQ+ identity exploration,” Losey said. “They know at least one student leader, or they know one person in the SAFE Office. How can we bring people together a little bit more?”

Healy said that LGBTQ+ students can find themselves isolated from the outset at Rice if they are unable to connect with peers of a shared identity, something he experienced during his Orientation Week, he said. 

“A lot of people find their first social standing and footing through O-Week or through their residential college,” Healy said. “That can be beneficial to a lot of students and harmful to many others. Queer students, especially from very specific identities, like trans students of color, have a very uniquely difficult time creating that social net early on through O-Week, if they aren’t lucky enough to have someone of their identity and close proximity to them. 

“In the residential focus, we’re looking at creating social cohesion and a sense of belonging and safety very early on in the way that non-queer students are afforded that opportunity,” Healy continued.

Losey said that a primary focus of the Lav Team would be outreach within colleges and developing cross-college collaboration.

“I’m hoping that each of the people who serve as leaders will do something called Rainbow Chats, like holding an affinity space,” Losey said. “The Lav Team leader from Jones [College] could be like, ‘Hey, I know a lot of stuff about bisexual and pansexual people. I would love to hold the affinity space,’ and somebody from Lovett could be like, ‘Well, I know a lot of stuff about trans issues.’”

While the Lav Team was developed between Losey in the DEI office and Rice PRIDE, it will not have as wide a purpose as Rice PRIDE. It will aim to empower individual identity groups while providing additional support to Rice PRIDE’s larger events, according to Healy. 

“I see Lav Team playing an important supplementary social role, giving space for very specific identity groups to hold power on campus and to be in charge of their own spaces, rather than having just Rice PRIDE looking over everything,” Healy said. “As someone who has been in Rice PRIDE, we just don’t have the bandwidth, or right now the funding, to do everything we want to do. With a group like this, we have extra students who can assist in the planning of the biggest events like Pride Week.”

The Lav Team is also different from the Diversity Facilitators program, which Healy said similarly doesn’t have the resources to represent every marginalized identity on campus. 

Losey sees the Lav Team being involved with large-scale programming that can become annual events such as a Lavender Graduation, which is a graduation ceremony specifically to celebrate LGBTQ+ students.

“Sometimes it’s the only graduation where somebody feels comfortable using their chosen name, or if they have a partner and they’re not out to their relatives they’ll invite their partner to this graduation,” Losey said. 

The team and graduation are named after lavender due to the color’s symbolism in the LGBTQ+ community.

“It was once used as a discreet way for queer people to identify and connect with one another, representing androgyny, beauty and queerness in a way that was safe and inclusive,” Losey wrote in an email to the Thresher. “For me, lavender represents resilience, community and the courage to center intersectional inclusion. 

“It’s a nod to the past while also symbolizing the ongoing work of building a more inclusive future,” Losey wrote. “That’s why I chose it for the Lav Team — it’s a name that honors history while inspiring us to keep moving forward.”

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