Ronni Sanlo

Ronni Lebman Sanlo (born March 20, 1948 in Miami, Florida, United States) is the Director Emeritus of the UCLA Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center and an authority on matters relating to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) students, faculty and staff in higher education.[1] She recognized at an early age that she was a lesbian, but was too afraid to tell anybody.[2] Sanlo went to college then married and had two children.[3] At the age of 31, Ronni came out and lost custody of her young children. The unfair treatment towards the LBGT community and her rights as a mother are what gave Sanlo the drive to get involved in activism and LGBT politics.[4]

Education

In Sanlo's early educational career she attended Hebrew school and Jewish youth groups throughout her high school years at Miami Norland Senior High School.[5] She graduated with a degree in music from the University of Florida in 1969 and attended the University of North Florida, where she obtained a Masters of Education in Counseling and a Doctorate of Education with a concentration in Educational Leadership/Organizational Development. Her dissertation was "Unheard Voices: The Effects of Silence on Lesbian and Gay Educators (published by Greenwood Press, 1999)".

Career

Sanlo's sexual orientation was cause for the losses of many jobs, but soon she recovered and was hired by the Florida Health Department to be an HIV epidemiologist. In 1994 she was hired by the University of Michigan to direct the Lesbian and Gay Programs office. She later added "bisexual" and "transgender" to the office name, created the initial LGBT program standards for the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS), and was the founding chair of the Consortium of LGBT Resource Professionals in Higher Education.[2] Three years later Sanlo was recruited by UCLA as their director of the LGBT center. She became a professor at UCLA who created the UCLA Masters of Education in Student Affairs in the Higher Education and Organizational Change (HEOC) division of the UCLA Graduate School of Education.[3][6] In 2010 she retired from UCLA and taught in the Educational Leadership program at California State University Fullerton for two years.[6] Ronni is retired and lives with her wife, Dr. Kelly Watson, in both Palm Springs, CA and Sequim, WA.

Letter To Anita: The Ronni Sanlo Story

This film was released in 2014 and featuresMeredith Baxter, as well as Ronni Sanlo. It premiered at the Los Angeles LGBT film festival, Outfest, in 2014.[7][8][9] The film's context shows Ronni Sanlo and her struggle between Anita Bryant's Anti-Gay Campaign, "Save Our Children." Bryant helped overturn a Dade County Ordinance; which outlawed the discrimination against gays.[10] This resulted in Ronni Sanlo losing custody of her children. The film also displays her fight to support people with HIV/AIDS and her fight for Gay Civil Rights in the midst of her losing her children. Lastly, Letter to Anita shows the "backdrop of the broader gay civil rights movement.".[10]

Letter To Anita won the Audience Award: Best Documentary Feature and Jury Award: Runner Up for Best Documentary Feature at the 25th Annual Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

Books authored

Sanlo has written and edited several books and articles on the topic of gender identity and sexual orientation in higher education.

Books include:

Sanlo, Ronni L. Unheard Voices: The Effects of Silence on Lesbian and Gay Educators. J F Bergin & Garvey, 1999. Print.

Sanlo, Ronni L., ed, Rankin, ed., Schoenberg, ed. Our Place on Campus: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Services and Programs in Higher Education. Greenwood, 2002. Print.

Sanlo, Ronni L., ed. Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation: Research, Policy, and Personal Perspectives: New Directions for Student Services, Number 111. 1 edition. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, 2005. Print.

Sanlo, Ronni. Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual College Students: Risk, Resiliency, and Retention. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 6, 2004. Print.

Sanlo, Ronni L. The Purple Golf Cart: The Misadventures of a Lesbian Grandma. Palm Desert, CA: Purple Books Publishing, 2013. Print.

'Lavender Graduation'

Sanlo is widely recognized as instituting the first "Lavender Graduation" ceremony at the University of Michigan in 1995, a commencement tradition that is now included in most universities across the United States.[11] By 2001, there were over 45 Lavender Graduations at colleges and universities nationwide.[12] The commencement takes place to acknowledge and honor lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and ally students and their contributions to the university. Lavender Graduation allows for LGBT students (all races and ethnicities) recognition within the university. The event honors their achievements, success and leadership in the university as a LGBT student and allows for pride and recognition of their identity. The ceremony also is not only for LGBT students, it is open to anyone supportive of the LGBT community.[13]

Awards

Awards Dr. Sanlo has received over the years include: the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center's LACE (Lesbians and bisexual women Active in Community Empowerment) Award for Professional Achievement; Curve Magazine’s Top 20 Most Influential Lesbian Academics; Greater Palm Springs Pride Spirit of Stonewall Award; NASPA’s Living the Legacy of the Profession of Student Affairs award; California Senate’s Touch the Future Award; Named in OUT Magazine’s 2000 Years 2000 Queers; Outstanding Service Award for Professionalism in AIDS Education in the Schools awarded by the State of Florida Health and Rehabilitative Services; and the Outstanding Community Service Award from the Minority AIDS Services Coalition of Northeast Florida. Three awards have been named for Dr. Sanlo. They are: the Ronni Sanlo Student Leadership Award at the University of North Florida, the Ronni Sanlo Emerging Student Leader at UCLA, and the Ronni Sanlo Cornerstone Award at the University of Michigan's Lavender Graduation ceremony.

References
  1. "Dr. Ronni Sanlo". Campus Pride. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  2. Sanlo, Ronni. "About Ronni". Ronni Sanlo, Ed. D.; Educator, Author, Professor, Speaker.
  3. Soderburg, Wendy; Hutchinson, Reed. "Ronni Sanlo, LGBT Studies". UCLA Spotlight. UCLA Marketing & Communications.
  4. Dekel, Yanir. "'Letter to Anita:' Ronni Sanlo Talks About Her Latest Project". BCC People.
  5. Wilcox, Melissa M. (2009). Queer Women and Religious Individualism. 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA: Indiana University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0253221162.CS1 maint: location (link)
  6. Sanlo, Ronni. "Professional Experience". Ronni Sanlo, Ed. D.; Educator, Author, Professor, Speaker.
  7. "2014 Outfest - Letter to Anita". Outfest.org. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  8. Chicago Tribune. "ECC to host LGBTQ consultant as guest speaker on Nov. 14". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  9. Tampa Tribune. "Tampa's gay and lesbian film festival celebrates 25 years". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  10. "Letter to Anita". Lettertoanita.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  11. Human Rights Campaign. "Lavender Graduation". Lavender Graduation. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  12. "Lavender Graduation". Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  13. "Lavender Graduation tradition celebrates LGBT students". USA TODAY College. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
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