Lavender Leadership Honor Society

Lavender Leadership Honor Society - Applications are Open!

Applications for the 2026-27 Lavender Leadership Honor Society cohort are now open! All undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Maryland are welcome to apply by September 8, 2026.

The Lavender Leadership Honor Society (LLHS) recognizes and develops students whose leadership contributes to LGBTQ+ inclusion, belonging, and community at UMD and across the state of Maryland. Open to University of Maryland, College Park undergraduate and graduate students, staff, faculty, and alumni, LLHS was founded in 2015 and recognized in the Washington Post as the first collegiate honor society of its kind. LLHS is designed to cultivate community, connections, and university-wide impact through year-round check-ins, community building, leadership programming, and expert-led projects. Each year concludes with an induction ceremony honoring new inductees. Since its inception, LLHS has played a pivotal role in empowering individuals to create welcoming environments within the university. Its ongoing dedication to nurturing leaders has made it a cornerstone of the campus community, inspiring positive change and growth.

Eligibility

LLHS eligibility is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Maryland. Staff, faculty, alumni and community members are encouraged to apply as project leads. Interested staff, alumni, and faculty members who are not project leads, are welcome to contact shantala@umd.edu to discuss the best possible options. Project leads are eligible to propose projects in March of each year. Applicants are selected based on leadership skills. Leadership is defined beyond the normative notion of having the loudest voice, encompassing creatives, strategists, mobilizers, and thinkers. The LLHS application is available until mid-September.

Apply for the Lavender Leadership Honor Society

Student Inductee Benefits

Networking: Build community with fellow students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
Expert Learning: Learn from project lead experts.
Induction: Become an inductee of LLHS.

Project Lead Inductee Benefits

Network with UMD students, faculty and staff.
Engage in generational learning.
Gain assistance and insight on a passion project.

Assembly Meetings

Fall 2026: Welcome & Project Placement
Fall 2026: Team Building & Project Check-In
Spring 2027: Welcome Back, Team Building & Check-In
Spring 2027: Final Assembly & Project Summary Presentations

LLHS assemblies held in fall and spring semesters bring together cohort members, project leads, LLHS lead, and Center staff, focusing on community building, progress sharing, and collective problem-solving. Inductees must attend at least two assembly meetings each semester. Dates and locations will be given to prospective inductees!

Community Building Events

These events offer inductees the opportunity to connect with the wider campus community, engage with peers, and collaborate on projects. Prospective inductees must attend at least one community building event per semester. A full list of community events will be given to accepted prospective inductees.

Community Projects

Prospective inductees will work alongside university experts during the academic year to complete projects that may be focused on art, culture, research, education, and/or strategies to foster inclusivity on the basis of gender and sexuality. Potential inductees will meet with their project lead at least once a month and collaborate within a team of 4-10 peers. These projects aim to foster a respectful and inclusive campus environment supported by a network and culture of care. Projects will begin in Fall 2026 and conclude by Spring 2027.

Title: LGBTQIA+ Advocacy in the Maryland General Assembly
Lead: Jeremy Browning, Director

Learn how LGBTQIA+ policy is shaped in Maryland and how community members can make their voices heard throughout the legislative process. Participants will:

Gain a practical understanding of the Maryland General Assembly, explore the Commission's advocacy efforts during the 2026 legislative session, and develop the knowledge and confidence to engage in future advocacy.
Learn how to write and deliver effective testimony, understand committee hearings and legislative procedures, and be invited to observe and participate in Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs Policy Committee meetings.

The project's primary goal is to empower students to become informed advocates who can meaningfully participate in the 2027 legislative session through written and oral testimony. Students with an interest in policy development may also have opportunities to contribute ideas and recommendations related to the Commission's future legislative priorities.

Title: Leadership Retreat & Program Implementation
Lead: Shantala Thompson, Associate Director, LGBTQ+ Equity Center, UMD
Time Commitment: Approximately 4-6 hours per month

The Leadership Retreat project aims to engage potential LLHS inductees in a full cycle of higher-education programmatic implementation to enhance student voice and program-planning skills. Students will assist in the planning of the LGBTQ+ Equity Center’s Leadership Retreat - a retreat centered on student, faculty, and staff leadership engagement and resources. Students will have opportunities to engage with programmatic outreach and advertisement, communication and social media, project management and implementation, collaboration with university partners, assessment creation and collection, and programmatic enhancement.

Title: LGBTQ+ Archives Collection Building
Lead: Natalie Trapuzzano, University Archivist: Special Collections and University Archives
Time Commitment: Approximately 8 hours per month

The LGBTQ+ Archives Collection Building project aims to engage potential LLHS inductees in each step of the process of attempting to enrich UMD University Archives’ (UA) collections by increasing its LGBTQ+ representation. Students will partake in the following: learning about UA, how new collections come into our holdings, and the power dynamics inherent in institutional repositories; familiarizing themselves with existing relevant collections in the archive; identifying key organizations and alumni to reach out to; connecting with Alumni Relations to gain support in identifying potential donors; reaching out to potential donors and building lasting relationships; working with confirmed donors to prepare their materials for ingestion into the archives (descriptions of materials, donor history, deeds of gift, etc.); and planning future uses for the materials so that any new LGBTQ+ collections are made more visible to the campus community.

Title: Out Loud: Queer Voices in Stand-Up Comedy
Lead: Ambi Narula, Communications and Program Specialist: Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices; Founder and CEO of Comedy Bonfyre; Founder and Advisor of Hysterics UMD

Out Loud: Queer Voices in Stand-Up Comedy will introduce students to stand-up comedy as a form of storytelling, creative expression, and community building. Through interactive workshops, participants will learn the fundamentals of joke writing, storytelling, comedic voice, and performance while exploring how identities and lived experiences can inform their comedy. The project will create an affirming space for participants of all experience levels to develop and refine original material, with the opportunity to perform at a final queer comedy showcase.

Induction Ceremony

The LLHS induction ceremony is a historic ceremony, and has existed in some form since the inception of LLHS in 2015. LLHS cohort members who complete all of the components will be inducted into the LLHS and are encouraged to attend the spring induction ceremony. Date and time will be shared with prospective inductees.

Requirements for Induction

Complete Project: Fall 2026 and Spring 2027.
Attend Community Events: Attend at least one per semester.
Assembly Meetings: Attend two per semester.

Honorary Members

In addition to inducting over 200 student, staff, faculty, and alumni members to the honor society since our founding in 2015, we have inducted several honorary members:

Lee Blinder, Founding Executive Director of Trans Maryland
Mara Keisling, Founding Executive Director of the National Center Transgender Equality
Laverne Cox, actress and advocate for trans women of color and human rights
Fanta Aw, international and higher education leader
Cathy Cohen, scholar and intersectional social justice champion
Urooj Arshad, international sexual and reproductive rights advocate and queer Muslim organizer
Chloe Schwenke, international development expert and transgender advocate
Eboné F. Bell, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tagg Magazine ~ "Everything Lesbian, Queer, and Under the Rainbow"