Virginia Tech and the LGBTQ+ Student Community: The Lavender House

A few months after the one year anniversary of its grand opening, Virginia Tech’s first LGBTQIA+ focused living-learning community (LLC) has left its mark on recent Virginia Tech alumni.

“Lavender House is more than just a place where gays live. It’s about community and unity and learning about each other, [and] feeling like we can be ourselves without judgment,” said Ashanti Freeman, a Spring 2023 Virginia Tech Lavender House alumni. “Between exploring our sexualities and identities freely, to taking a class to understand queer history, Lavender House was created to make a difference,” stated Freeman. 

The Lavender House opened for the first time in August, 2022. According to a 2022 VTx news article written by Kelsey Bartlett, “Lavender House,... is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, but students of all majors are welcome as residents.” When describing LLCs in the article, Bartlett states, “Virginia Tech LLCs are niche communities that integrate academics into the residential living experience. The benefits of Lavender House are two-fold: providing students with a built-in community from the moment they step foot on campus and affirming that the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals are worthy of academic study.”

When asked if the Lavender House is a valuable asset to students of the LGBTQIA+ community, Ashanti Freeman stated, “I strongly believe that Lavender House is a valuable asset. Not only does it give a safe space for queer individuals to live, but it also gives a space where we can learn and grow and be who we are. Being in this community is not easy, so just feeling like you have a strong support system is a safety that’s important.” 

With Lavender House being such a supposed aid to the LGBTQIA+ student community on campus, it’s a wonder it wasn’t founded earlier on, to give more students the chance to build a support system with their peers. When asked about the extent of knowledge on the Lavender House, Mason Beahr, a queer, third year graduate math Student at Virginia Tech, reflects on a missed opportunity. “I know that they’re a living learning community and I know that they are mainly focused on supporting queer students and faculty to my knowledge. I believe it was founded two to three years ago. It wasn’t here when I started,” said Beahr. 

Moreover, it’s unknown the exact number of students who missed out on the chance to be a part of something as radical as the Lavender House, similar to Beahr. If said students had access to such an opportunity, would this influence their level of comfort expressing themselves? When asked about a chance to go back in time and join the Lavender House, Beahr stated, “I think I would not have for personal reasons. That’s a result of my journey. I don’t think I was in a place to be very queer when I first started college, but I think if I had the option to now as a grad student I think I would.”

Furthermore, the hope for future Virginia Tech LGBTQIA+ students is that there will be even more spaces, resources, and allies that they can utilize to feel like Virginia Tech is truly home. 

Listen to the full interview here: https://soundcloud.com/user-90252904/lgbtqia-interview-charlie-sloop