Houston kicks off back-to-back Pride weekends with new parade

The New Faces of Houston Pride kicked off their first Pride Festival and Parade Saturday, themed “Rainbow Revolution,” welcoming thousands of queer Houstonians to celebrate love, authenticity, equality and pride LGBTQ+.

Hundreds of vendors lined up along Walker and McKinney streets selling everything from food to psychic readings and local second-hand clothing. Organizations like Equality Texas and the Greater Houston LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce were also in attendance. The festival, which lasted six hours, also featured several cooling and water stations throughout the area.

“It’s very well organized,” said Nicole Aponte, who frequently used the cooling stations located on two Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority stationary buses. “And with the police nearby, everything seems so secure.”

New Faces officials expected about 5,000 to 10,000 attendees for the ticketed festival, which started at noon and ended at 6 p.m. They expected about 20,000 people to attend the free parade.

However, the two portions combined attracted approximately 20,000 people. Despite this, the organizers consider this first year a “huge success”.

“We’re very happy with how everything turned out,” said Bryan Cotton, founder and president of New Faces of Pride, as the parade prepared to start. “Attendance will increase over time as confusion sets in. So, I’m very happy.

Attendees made themselves at home, dipping their feet in the shallow fountain in front of City Hall to stay cool despite the hot and humid weather, while country singers Billy Gilman, Lauren Sanderson and Chris Housman performed from the main stage in front of the town hall.

The parade began at 7:30 p.m., with organizers announcing the countdown to the parade from the starting line. More than 50 parade participants – from elected officials to business representatives, government agencies and community organizations – rode floats, cars and marched waving and throwing beads, rainbow fans -sky and koozies, and more as attendees danced to music from a live DJ.

Protesters at the parade

Just as the parade began, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters, some of whom are gay, marched toward the center of the parade to raise awareness of the ongoing war in Israel.

A handful of groups chanted “There is no pride in genocide,” “Free Palestine, free” and “We are here, we are queer, we want a revolution,” to protest Chevron, one parade sponsors, which has made significant investments to increase the country’s natural gas production.

“It’s really hard for us to celebrate Pride right now while our comrades, our queer Palestinians, whose families are victims of genocide at the hands of a country that continually washes over its crimes in pink,” said Anna Rajagopal, recent Rice University graduate and member of Rice Students for Justice in Palestine.

“While the spirit of this Pride Parade is celebration, we hope people remember that Pride did not start as a celebration. It started as a riot, a revolution, an uprising. So we also hope to return to the roots of pride.

Despite protests, the parade continued. However, the Houston Police Department arrested two individuals, one on misdemeanor charges of obstructing a highway and the second on attempted assault of a peace officer, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. They were released on bail on Sunday morning.

Double the pride, double the fun

New Faces of Pride was launched last summer in an effort to restore transparency after the reputation of the historic 46-year-old organization, Pride Houston 365, was damaged when former executive director and president Lorin Roberts was accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the organization and embezzlement. more than $50,000.

In the months leading up to Pride, the two organizations had publicly feuded, with city officials calling on them to resolve their issues privately and find a way to work together.

But none of that mattered Saturday for attendees decked out in rainbow accessories, eager to show their pride and celebrate love.

“The more Prides the better, because people have other things in their lives and they can’t always make it to an event,” said first-time attendee Punkti Gandhi, who said that she was unaware of the tensions between the two organizations. “So having different events throughout the month allows more people to celebrate.”

This was the first Pride festival and parade for Elizabeth Falla, 21, of Houston, accompanied by their father, Victor Falla. The two men waited patiently for the parade to begin on Smith and Lamar as participants began to trickle in.

“Coming to Pride, I recognize the fact that I’ve known this for so long,” Falla said. They said they knew they were pansexual since they were 15 years old.

There wasn’t much planning to attend this weekend’s festivities, they said. All it took was a quick Google search to see that there were two opportunities to celebrate and they were optimistic that they would be able to make it happen.

Some online search results also highlighted the divide between the two organizations, but Elizabeth Falla decided to focus on the positive and saw an opportunity to double down on community support.

“I don’t understand why they can’t agree, but I like it because there are twice as many opportunities to raise money now,” Falla said.

Cotton acknowledged that while some are still confused about the two Pride organizations, time should help resolve some issues.

“I think after this gets out there and people talk about it, it will clear up a lot of the confusion and people will definitely be ready for next year,” he said.

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