Houston Gay Pride Parade
The Houston Gay Pride Parade (or often called the Houston Pride Parade) is the major feature of a gay pride festival held annually since 1979. The festival takes place in June to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies. This event commemorates the 1969 police raid of the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood, which is generally considered to be the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.
The festivities are held all day on the 4th Saturday of June. The highlight of the event is the parade, which has been held in the evening after sunset since 1997. The necessary revision in a Houston parade ordinance to allow a nighttime parade was facilitated by then-Houston City Council member Annise Parker. With the event after dark, the various units can be creatively illuminated.
Until 2015, it took place in Houston's most gay-friendly neighborhood, Montrose.[1] The route of the parade usually had been along Westheimer Road, from Dunlavy Street to Crocker Street. Owing partially to concerns over increasing congestion over the years in the nearby neighborhoods, and to accommodate a larger festival (held in the daytime before the parade itself), the 2015 parade was moved to downtown Houston.[2]
It is currently the most attended and largest gay pride event in Texas, the Southwest region of the United States, and the second largest Houston-organized event in the city behind Houston Rodeo. The 2015 Houston Pride Festival attracted 700,000 attendees, which set a new record.[3]
The Houston Pride parade was expected to take place in the fall for the first time in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.,[4] however due to the increasing cases in Houston the 2020 Pride Parade became replaced with a virtual rally.[5] It was the first and only time the parade was cancelled.
Awards[]
Entries in the parade are eligible for awards in categories with cultural references significant to LGBT history as well as a judges pick and categories with more localized focus:
- Judges' Choice
- Aria (best creative sound)
- Fabulous (best costumes)
- Rainbow (best lighting)
- Ruby Slipper (best walking)
- Judy Garland (best performance)
- Pink Diamond (best float by a for-profit company)
- Priscilla (best float by a non-profit group)
- Spirit of Montrose (best overall)
Houston Pride Themes & Parade Grand Marshals[]
| Year | Theme | Grand Marshal(s) | Honorary Grand Marshal(s) | Organizational Grand Marshal(s) | Community Grand Marshal(s) | Celebrity Grand Marshal(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | "United We Stand" | Thelma Hansel | ||||
| 1980 | "Proud to Be" | Jim Farmer & Ruth Ravas | ||||
| 1981 | "We the People" | Ray Hill & Rita Wanstrom | ||||
| 1982 | "A Part Of, Not Apart From" | Marion Coleman & Andy Mills | ||||
| 1983 | "Unity through Diversity" | Marion Pantzer & Walter Strickler | ||||
| 1984 | "Unity and More in '84" | Pokey Anderson & Rick Grossman | ||||
| 1985 | "Alive with Pride" | Terry Clark & Freda Jerrell | ||||
| 1986 | "Liberty Is In Our Grasp" | Tony Bicocchi & Dee Lamb | ||||
| 1987 | "Come Out and Celebrate Pride" | Persons Living With AIDS | ||||
| 1988 | "Rightfully Proud" | Bruce Cook & Eleanor Munger | Sharon Kowalski & Harvey Milk | |||
| 1989 | "Stonewall 20" | Charles Armstrong & Bettie Naylor | ||||
| 1990 | "Look to the Future" | Walter Carter & Annise Parker | Debra Danburg & Craig Washington | |||
| 1991 | "Take Pride" | Gene Harrington, Jack Jackson & Linda Morales | & Marvin Davis | |||
| 1992 | "Pride = Power" | Sheri Cohen Darbonne & Brian Keever | Gay & Lesbian Switchboard Houston | |||
| 1993 | "Out & Proud" | Brian Bradley & Carolyn Mobley | PFLAG Houston | |||
| 1994 | "HouStoneWall 25" | Jay Allen & Cicely Wynne | Q-Patrol | |||
| 1995 | "Silence to Celebration" | Suzanne Anderson & Don Gill | H.A.T.C.H. | |||
| 1996 | "Pride Knows No Borders" | Bill Havard & Jeanette Vaughn | The Royal, Sovereign, and Imperial Court of the Single Star | |||
| 1997 | "Glowing with Pride" | Deborah Bell & Jimmy Carper | Krewe of Olympus | |||
| 1998 | "Unified, Diversified, Electrified" | Bob Bouton & Jackie Doval | ||||
| 1999 | "Pride, Power & Pizzazz" | Sean Carter & Nancy Ford | Colt 45's | |||
| 2000 | "Take Pride, Take Joy, Take Action" | Richard Weiderholt & Tori Williams | People With AIDS Coalition Houston | |||
| 2001 | "Embrace Diversity" | Mitchell Katine & Dalia Stokes | PFLAG Houston | |||
| 2002 | "Pride Worldwide" | Mela Contreras & Rusty Mueller | Jane & Irv Smith | Gay & Lesbian Switchboard Houston | ||
| 2003 | "Silver Celebration" | All former Grand Marshals honored | ||||
| 2004 | "Pride As Big As Texas" | Sonna Alton & Jerry Simoneaux | Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas | |||
| 2005 | "Equal Rights! No More! No Less! | Weldon Hickey & Deb Murphy | Bayou City Boys Club | |||
| 2006 | "Say It Out Loud!" | Phyllis Randolph Frye & Ray Ramirez | Bunnies on the Bayou | |||
| 2007 | "Lone Star Pride" | Jack Valinski & Maria Gonzalez | Garnet Coleman | The Imperial Court of Houston | ||
| 2008 | "We are Family" | & Kelly McCann | AIDS Foundation Houston, Inc. | |||
| 2009 | "Out 4 Justice" | & Fiona Dawson | ||||
| 2010 | "Pride NOT Prejudice" | Gary Wood & Carol Wyatt | Montrose Counseling Center | Mayor Annise Parker | Andy Cohen | |
| 2011 | "Live. Love. Be." | Bryan Hlavinka & Tammi Wallace | Duane & Judy Roland | The GLBT Community Center | ||
| 2012 | "Live Out Proud" | Nicolas Brines, Jenifer Rene Pool and Council Member Ellen Cohen | Toro, mascot of the Houston Texans | Madison Hildebrand | ||
| 2013 | "Pride Unleashed" | John Nechman & Robin Brown | Januari Leo | |||
| 2014 | "Carnivale" | JD Doyle & Christina Gorzynski | Sarah & Fernando Aramburo | |||
| 2015 | "HEROES" | Ryan Levy & Britt Kornmann | Anna Eastman | |||
| 2016 | "Houston Proud" | Bradley Odom-Harris & Fran Watson | Dena Gray
Imran Yousef (Pulse Survivor) |
|||
| 2017 | "Wonderland" | Lou Weaver, Sallie Wyatt-Woodell, and Aimee Broadhurst | Tony Carroll, Marion Coleman, and Arden Eversmeyer | |||
| 2018 | "#Pride40" | All former Grand Marshals | Bob Briddick, Julie Mabry, and Josephine Tittsworth | |||
| 2019 | "Summer of '69" | Harrison Homer-Guy, Judge Shannon B. Baldwin, Mike Webb, and Constable Alan Rosen | Atlantis Narcisse, Dee Dee Watters, Ana Andrea Molina and Monica Robert | |||
| 2020 | "Divercity" | Cancelled caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Replaced with a virtual/online rally. | ||||
| 2021 | ||||||
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Pat Bryan
- ^ "Houston Pride has moved Downtown". 8 September 2014.
- ^ "Pride Houston says over 700K attended weekend festival and parade". 29 June 2015.
- ^ "Pride Houston events postponed due to COVID-19". 30 April 2020.
- ^ "It Started with a Riot: March Cancelled + Rally to be Livestreamed".
- ^ "Parade of Heroes". 5 June 2018.
External links[]
- Pride Houston Website
- InterPride
- Pride events listed at Gay.com at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2008-09-19)
- Gay Pride calendar
- 1979 establishments in Texas
- Annual events in Texas
- Festivals in Houston
- LGBT culture in Houston
- Pride parades in Texas
- Recurring events established in 1979