Welcome to QVA’s quarterly newsletter, where we celebrate achievements and share news from the vibrant LGBTQ+ UVA community being built by students, faculty, staff, and our global network of alumni. Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook where we’ll post highlights of our work and events!
2023 Fall Weekend Highlights
A couple weeks ago we hosted over 100 LGBTQ+ alumni, students, faculty, and staff for a 3-day weekend on Grounds. We hope you enjoy looking through photos from the weekend! Please credit @finiphotos as you share on social media.
It was a heart-warming opportunity to meet and reconnect with UVA friends, celebrate the incredible accomplishments of QVA and the entire LGBTQ+ UVA community over the past decades, and commit to continue moving forward together. Highlights included:
- Happy hour downtown on the Quirk rooftop, where we heard from Bernard Mayes Award Winner, Brian Rosman, about his leadership in the LA queer community and the Tennessee LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce
- Sunset gala at Montalto overlooking Monticello, celebrating our award winners Brian Rosman, Jasmine Hall Ratliff, and Aaron Laushway (In Memoriam)
- Sunday brunch at the LGBTQ Center in Newcomb, followed by a farewell toast in Garden II
Events
Our alumni expressed a craving for a return to in-person connection post-pandemic, so mark your calendars for city-specific events in the next few months!
- In Washington D.C. on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, join us at the new LGBTQ+ bar Shakers from 5:45 – 7:45PM! More info will be emailed soon to D.C. area alumni
- San Francisco (~January)
- Los Angeles (~March)
- Reunions in Charlottesville (first and second weekends in June)
We also had a wonderful event in NYC in August at Duplex, the LGBTQ+ bar next to Stonewall, with over 40 alumni in attendance.
Donation Request
With all the progress we’ve made, there’s still more work to be done to meet the critical demand we now face for scholarship funding. We are already struggling to meet growing demand and risk falling behind without your help. Please consider making a $100 contribution to the QVA Operating Endowment or the Wavelength Scholarship Endowment using the donate button below.
Support LGBTQ+ Programming and Scholarships
If you would like to discuss how a larger donation could support specific types of needed scholarships or programming, please don’t hesitate to contact me at lance@queervirginia.org.
Thank you all for your support in building a better University of Virginia community. Together we have achieved so much, and I am excited to see where we can build from here.
Sincerely yours,
Lance C. Guthrie