Houston has a large and diverse LGBT population and is home to the 4th largest gay pride parade in the nation. [1] [2] Houston has the largest LGBT population of any city in the state of Texas. [1] [2]
According to Ray Hill, a Montrose resident quoted in the Houston Press , before the 1970s, the city's gay bars were spread around Downtown Houston and what is now Midtown Houston. Gays and lesbians needed to have a place to socialize after the closing of the gay bars. They began going to Art Wren, a 24-hour restaurant in Montrose, a community of empty nesters and widows. [3] LGBT community members were attracted to Montrose as a neighborhood after encountering it while patronizing Art Wren, and they began to gentrify the neighborhood and assist the widows with the maintenance of their houses. Within Montrose, new gay bars began to open. [3] By 1985, the flavor and politics of the neighborhood were heavily influenced by the LGBT community. [3] and in 1990, according to Hill, 19% of the residents of Montrose were LGBT. [3] Paul Broussard was murdered in Montrose in 1991. [3]
In the 2000s many LGBT individuals began moving to Westbury and several began referring to it as "Little Montrose". [4] By 2009 some were also moving to Riverside Terrace. [5] By 2011 many LGBT people moved to the Houston Heights and to suburbs in Greater Houston, and according to Hill, possibly less than 8% of Montrose's population was LGBT. Decentralization of Houston's LGBT population with the increasing LGBT acceptance in the city caused business at gay bars in Montrose to decline. Hill stated that "Gay bars used to be places where we had to go to get refuge because we were not welcome anywhere else. Well, guess what? There's nowhere we're not welcome anymore." [6] The suburbs especially attracting gays are Pearland, Sugar Land, and Missouri City. [7]
In February 2015 a 17-year-old gay student at Lutheran High School North reported that the school forced him to leave since he refused to take down YouTube videos discussing his sexuality. [8] The school's executive director, Wayne Kramer, referred to the student handbook, which stated: "Lutheran High North reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse admission of an applicant and/or to discontinue enrollment of a current student participating in, promoting, supporting or condoning: pornography, sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bisexual activity". [9]
In 2023 Houston had one lesbian bar left, Pearl. That year, according to Julie Mabry, who owns the bar, an underwriter for an insurance company told her that because the bar had drag performances, the company would not allow her to buy insurance for the business. [10]
Jordan Blum of the Houston Chronicle stated in 2016 that levels of LGBT acceptance and discrimination vary throughout the Houston energy industry. Around the 1990sBP, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, and several other companies offered benefits and protection to LGBT employees equal to that of straight employees. According to Blum many LGBT-identifying persons told him that several companies have cultures non-supportive of LGBT-identifying persons and that some had "described thinly veiled or blatant discrimination." [11] Blum stated that "In many ways, the energy sector mirrors Houston's dual identities - the diverse, innovative, big-business urban image clashing with a conservative culture, deeply rooted in Christian faith." [11]
The Montrose Center is an LGBT community center located in the Montrose district of Houston. [12]
The center in 2019 began the establishment of a senior center in the Third Ward. [13]
Michael Ennis of the Texas Monthly stated in 1980 that within Texas, "gay political inroads" were "most visible" in Houston. [14] In the October 1979 Village Voice Richard Goldstein wrote that due to the perceived threat from the "Christian right" in the area, gay people in Houston "take politics more seriously" than those in New York City. [14]
The Marriage of Billie Ert and Antonio Molina, the first gay marriage in Texas, took place in 1972, although it was later voided by the Texas Attorney General. [15]
In 1978, Steve Shifflet, a former Young Republican, became the head of the Houston Gay Political Caucus (HGPC). He advocated for using bloc-voting so gay people could get their preferred candidates. That year, the LGBT bloc-voted to put Mickey Leland in the Congressional seat formerly held by Barbara Jordan, and Leland personally thanked the HGPC. [16]
In 1979, Montrose became included in a single-member Houston City Council district and therefore increasing LGBT political representation. [17]
In 1980, Montrose was in Texas Legislative District 79. That year, Ennis stated that according to "[l]ocal politicians" the district "will now go the way the gay vote goes." [17]
In the fall 1979 election for Houston City Council, Eleanor Tinsley, a liberal, and Frank Mann, a conservative, competed for an at-large city council district. Tinsley attracted LGBT voters while Mann referred to them as "oddwads and queers" as a way of polarizing those opposing the LGBT community into voting for him. Due to the support of the LGBT community, Tinsley defeated Mann. [17]
In 2002, voters in the City of Houston had passed Proposition 2, which outlawed the city government from giving same-sex partners of municipal employees benefits. [18]
In 2010, Annise Parker, a lesbian woman, was voted Mayor of Houston, making that city the first large American city to vote an openly homosexual person as a mayor. [19] [20] This made Parker the LGBT official in the United States with the largest constituency. [21] Parker had been elected to political offices in the city government six previous times. Miguel Bustillo of The Wall Street Journal stated that this occurred "with little controversy over her sexual preference". [22]
The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) gave transgender women the right to use women's restrooms. Christian groups opposed the ordinance. Opponents gathered 50,000 votes on a petition to have it recalled. [23] The voting base rejected HERO in November 2015. [24]
Buddy's, in 2020, was the first gay bar in the state where people did voting. [25] The bar closed in 2024. [26]
OutSmart is a monthly LGBT magazine in Houston. [27] In 2008 the Houston Press ranked it the "Best Local Magazine." [28]
KPFT held radio programs for LGBT topics starting in the 1970s. In 2024 two archivists engaged in preservation of the archives of these programs. [29]
In previous eras, gay people in the area attended gay rock and roll clubs. By 1980, gay Houstonians were still going to disco clubs, while among straight people disco was a fad. [30]
Charles Armstrong owns four gay clubs in Houston, [31] with two of them being South Beach and Montrose Mining Company; [32] Mandy Oaklander of the Houston Press wrote in 2011 that Armstrong's clubs were "the most successful clubs in Houston's gay scene". [31]
In 2002 Jeremy Quittner of The Advocate wrote that "it would seem" one could be prevented from being in the "superelite" of Houston for being homosexual; [33] he stated this in reference to Michael J. Kopper, the chief assistant of Enron CFO Andrew Fastow. [18]
The Gay Men's Chorus of Houston is the premier predominately gay male chorus in the Houston metro. The men's chorus was founded in 1979 and has a predominately lesbian counterpart known as the Bayou City Women's Chorus. The women's chorus was established in 2005. [34]
"Out at the Rodeo" week is held annually at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in March. During this week, there are several events acknowledging and celebrating the LGBT community in conjunction with the festival. [35]
The Houston Gay Pride Parade is the largest pride parade in Texas. Pride Houston (parade organizers) has been able to attract approximately 200,000 spectators from Houston and beyond for the annual June event. For the first time since its inception, the parade has moved from Montrose to Downtown Houston for 2015. The reason cited for the move is that downtown has the space and resources to improve the quality and size of the event. [36]
Houston's annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is organized by Qfest. Qfest was founded in 1996 and sponsors several events throughout the year. [37]
Revelry is the premiere annual circuit party in Houston. The event has been growing in popularity and notoriety since 2016. [38] [39]
Orgullo Houston is a non-profit organization that seek out, recognize and celebrate the contributions that Latinos and Latinas make to the LGBT community. In 2016, the organization held Houston's first LGBT event with an emphasis on Latinx people and culture. The organization holds annual events. [40]
Houston Splash is a black LGBT pride event that attracts a few thousand attendees. It is the oldest black LGBT pride event in Texas beginning in 1988 (rebranded and trademarked in 1995) and is held every early first week of May. [41] It is the largest event of its kind in the Gulf Coast Region with a five-day span of activities celebrating the black LGBT community. [42] [43]
The epicenter of Houston's gay community and nightlife is the Montrose district. [44]
Some Christian churches accept members of the LGBT community. [45] In 2008 Reverend Dwayne Johnson, the pastor of the Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, [46] a church in Timbergrove Manor, [47] near the Houston Heights, [45] stated that there were about 15-20 openly gay Christian clergy members in Houston. [46]
Resurrection Metropolitan's main service group is the LGBT community. [46] In 1980 the pastor was gay, and almost all of the congregation was LGBT. [48] In December 2010 Reverend Harry Knox, a pro-LGBT activist, became the leader of the Resurrection Metropolitan. In 2011 Resurrection Metropolitan had 850 members. [45]
Over the years a number of Evangelical/Pentecostal GLBT affirming churches have also ministered to the Houston Community. Community Gospel Church began in the early 1980s and served the community until 2012, with about 150 members at its height. In 2012, Gateway of Hope Church was birthed as a Pentecostal/Word of Faith, Spirit Filled, Word Based, Jesus Centered fellowship meeting off of Dacoma Street and Hempstead Highway and is pastored by Pastor Sven Verbeet. It is affiliated with the Covenant Network and serves not only the Houston area, but also active missions works in the Philippines and India. Founded in 2010 Living Mosaic Christian Church is an independent, nondenominational fellowship, pastored by Rev. Jason Wood meets at the Montrose Counseling Center. Living Mosaic's worship style is a liturgical and evangelical blend.
In 1995 Grace Evangelican Lutheran Church began accepting LGBT members and became a "Reconciling in Christ" Lutheran church; it was founded in 1922. In 2008 René Garcia, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), stated that he estimated that 40% of the members identified themselves as LGBT, with many of them coming from other Christian denominations such as Missouri Synod Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism. [46]
In 2008 pro-LGBT activist Jay Bakker argued that Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church, should speak out in favor of the LGBT community, and invited him to join his group in a picnic. [49]
The group Keshet Houston is a non-profit organization that connects Jewish LGBT people in the Houston area. [50] They connect Jewish people with LGBT affirming synagogues as well as holding their own social and religious events. [51] Keshet Houston has participated in the Houston Pride Parade since 2014, and in 2015 the first legally married same-sex couple from Texas rode on their float. [50] [52]
Temple Emanu El is an LGBT friendly congregation whose leaders have spoken out against LGBT discrimination, and participated in events that seek to end this discrimination in Texas. [53] [54]
Several synagogues have hired LGBT clergy, including Congregation B'rith Shalom, Congregation Beth Israel, and Congregation B'nai Israel in Galveston. [55]
Houston has a large number of Muslim residents, constituting approximately 1.2% of the population. [56] After the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, M.J. Khan, the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston denounced the shooter, and said that the Muslim community stands in solidarity with LGBT people. [57] [58] The Council on American-Islamic Relations of Houston also hosted a blood drive to benefit those who had been hurt by the shooting. [58] [59]
In 2022 there were plans to open a mosque which caters to Houston's LGBT communities. [60]
Annise Danette Parker is an American politician who served as the 61st Mayor of Houston, Texas, from 2010 until 2016. She also served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council from 1998 to 2003 and city controller from 2004 to 2010.
Montrose is a neighborhood located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States. Montrose is a 7.5-square-mile (19 km2) area roughly bounded by Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, South Shepherd Drive to the west, and Taft to Fairview to Bagby to Highway 59 to Main to the east. The area is also referred to as Neartown or Neartown / Montrose.
QFest, formerly known as the Houston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (HGLFF), is a nonprofit organization based in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting the media arts as a tool for communication and cooperation among diverse communities by presenting films, videos, and programs by, about, or of interest to the LGBT community.
Timbergrove Manor is a neighborhood in northwest Houston, Texas. It consists of two sections with two different homeowners associations: Timbergrove Manor Civic Club (TMCC) and Timbergrove Manor Neighborhood Association (TMNA).
South Beach is a nightclub with after hours located in Houston, Texas within the Neartown area which opened in 2001 on the former site of Club Heaven. The 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) dance club located at 810 Pacific Street was popular among the city's gay community. Among South Beach’s many features was a full-color water-cooled matrix laser light show utilizing Kryogen Ifex liquid ice jets that spray out a thick cloud of liquid Ice. The ice jets had the ability to reduce the temperature of the club by 20 °F (−7 °C) in a few seconds.
The Houston Gay 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. Protests against police harassment in Houston also helped bring about the parade.
The Houston GLBT Community Center was a community center for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies in the Houston metropolitan area and southeast Texas. Its last location was in the Dow School building in the Sixth Ward of Houston.
The Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus is the South's oldest civil rights organization dedicated solely to the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. It was founded in 1975, and is the largest LGBTQ political organization in the city of Houston and Harris County. It is known locally simply as "The Caucus". The Caucus is nonpartisan and endorses candidates on the basis of their support for LGBTQ rights, regardless of political party or candidate's sexual orientation.
Phyllis Randolph Frye is an associate judge for the municipal courts in Houston, Texas. Frye is the first openly transgender judge appointed in the United States.
Throughout Dallas–Fort Worth, there is a large lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Since 2005, DFW has constituted one of the largest LGBT communities in Texas.
Hyde Park is a historic community located in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, Texas. Its southeast boundary is the intersection Montrose Boulevard and Westheimer. The neighborhood was established in the late 1800s on the summer farm of the second President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau Lamar. In the 1970s, Hyde Park became a central part of the Gay Rights Movement in Houston. Like much of Montrose, the neighborhood is now experiencing significant gentrification, and is home to an abundance of restaurants, including Mexican, Italian, Greek, American, Lebanese, coffee houses, and numerous bars.
Proposition 1 was a referendum held on November 3, 2015, on the anti-discrimination ordinance known as the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). The ordinance was intended to improve anti-discrimination coverage based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Houston, specifically in areas such as housing and occupation where no anti-discrimination policy existed. Proposition 1 asked voters whether they approved HERO. Houston voters rejected Proposal 1 by a vote of 61% to 39%.
Montrose Mining Company was a gay bar in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, Texas, United States. Having opened in March 1978, it was the oldest gay bar in Houston since the closing of EJ's in June 2014. Although it mainly catered to the leather and Levi's subcultures, it was regularly attended by all members of the LGBT community.
The Montrose Center is an LGBTQ community center located in Houston, Texas, in the United States. The organization provides an array of programs and services for the LGBTQ community, including mental and behavioral health, anti-violence services, support groups, specialized services for youth, seniors, and those living with HIV, community meeting space, and it now operates the nation's largest LGBTQ-affirming, affordable, senior living center in the nation, the Law Harrington Senior Living Center. It is a member of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. It is in Neartown (Montrose).
OutSmart Magazine, or simply OutSmart, is a monthly publication serving Houston's LGBT community since 1994. Founded by Greg Jeu, the magazine's outreach has exceeded 200,000 and is distributed at over 350 locations in Houston and Galveston, as well as in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio. Upon its creation, it was the only local magazine to highlight the society, politics, and culture surrounding the LGBT community in Houston, rather than serving as an entertainment guide; most other publications at that time tended to feature sexually-explicit content and advertisements. OutSmart is also certified and verified by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce as an LGBT Business Enterprise and is audited by Verified Audit Circulation.
Meteor, also known as Meteor Houston, Meteor Nightclub, or Meteor Urban Video Lounge, was a gay bar and nightclub in Neartown, Houston, Texas, in the United States. The bar hosted an annual Mr. Gay Pride Houston competition.
Just Marion & Lynn's, stylized "Just" Marion & Lynn's, was a gay bar that was opened in 1973 by Marion Pantzer and Lynn Hornaday in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, Texas, United States. It was one of the first lesbian-oriented bars to open in Houston. The bar closed in 1987, one year after Pantzer was murdered.
In 1977, the Texas State Bar Association invited country singer Anita Bryant to perform at a meeting in Houston, Texas. In response to Bryant's outspoken anti-gay views and her Save Our Children campaign, thousands of members of the Houston LGBT community and their supporters marched through the city to the venue in protest on June 16, 1977. The protests have been called "Houston's Stonewall" and set into motion the major push for LGBT rights in Houston.
Ray Hill was an American activist for LGBT rights and for police, law enforcement and prisoner issues. An ex-convict, he was also the subject of multiple documentary films.
F Bar was a gay bar and nightclub in Midtown, Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas. The bar opened in 2011 and closed in 2017. Garth Mueller of Frommer's rated the bar 1 out of 3 stars.