Queer Voices
Queer Voices
June 3rd - Pride Grand Marshals Ashley Barnes and Brad Pritchett, Cabaret star Tamara Siler
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! First up, Deborah Moncrief Bell talks with Ashley Barnes, who is the 2026 PRIDE HOUSTON 365 Female-Identifying Grand Marshal. Then Brett Cullum gets to chat up Tamara Siler about her cabaret show at Main Street Theater called SINNERS AND SAINTS. Finally, Bryan Hlavinka talks with Brad Pritchett, who is a 2026 PRIDE HOUSTON 365 Distinguished Grand Marshal.
Tickets to Tamara Siler's show (runs through June 13th):
https://mainstreettheater.com/tamara-siler-sinners-and-saints/
Website for EQUALITY TEXAS:
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/
KPFT Support And Houston Pride Plans
Welcome to Queer Voices, a radio show and a podcast that has been on KPFT since the station started. Please consider a donation of 90.1 by going to KPFT.org and clicking on donate. You can do a one-time gift or send a little bit every month, like I do. Everyone that you hear on this show is a volunteer. So any money raised goes straight to keeping the lights on for a place that has always had our backs as a community. We are proud to be on KPFT. Remember, this year, the Pride Parade and Festival is on June 6th, Saturday, downtown. So this weekend, if you're a radio listener or catch the podcast in time, there will be the festival at City Hall. That's going to start around 11 a.m. And then one of the country's only nighttime parade kicks off at 7 p.m. downtown. On this episode, you're going to hear about Pride quite a bit. Deborah Moncrief Bell talks with 2026 female identifying Grand Marshal for Pride Houston 365, Ashley Barnes. Then I get to talk with Tamara Siler about her one-woman cabaret show, Saints and Sinners, that is playing at Main Street Theater through June 13th. It's a great set of songs, and Tamara has her own connections to our community. Finally, Brian Lavinka talks with a 2026 Pride Houston distinguished Grand Marshal, Mr. Brad Pritt. Brad is the CEO of Equality Texas. We're certainly proud that you are here with us. Queer Voices starts now. This
Ashley Barnes On Limitless Pride
is Deborah Moncrief Bell, and I'm delighted to be talking with Ashley Barnes today. Ashley is the female identifying grand marshal for Pride 2026. Now, Ashley, what does this nomination mean to you? Well, thank you so much. This nomination means the world to me. I am so ecstatic and I cannot believe that I am representing the city where I was born and raised, Houston, Texas, as this year's female identifying Pride Grand Marshal. I'm just overly excited and very, very grateful. What has been your past experience with Pride? With Pride, I've always been able to volunteer, come out with my organization, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, provide testing at Pride, give away incentives for testing, and just really engage in all of the activities leading up to the Pride Festival. But this year, it's gonna be a different experience. How do you think that Pride is relevant? It's relevant because it is a celebratory moment for the LGBTQ Plus community here in Houston. We get to be free, you could be you, and I could be me. There is no judgment, and there's no limit to what we can do. Well, you touched on the next question, which is the theme this year is limitless. So what does that mean to you? Limits limitless means there's no limit. We have fought a good fight, we've won that fight, and now it lets us know there's no limit to what any of us can do. I've heard some people express we've been through hard times before and we got through them. We've had these bad things happen and we move beyond them. So even though our community is so much under attack, we know we can get through it because we've done it before and we've grown and and gathered strength from that and formed community, which is the most important part. Ashley, to let folks know a little bit more about you, as you mentioned, you work for an HIV health organization, and you've been doing that work for a long time, and in that community, you have a nickname. It is called Miss Get It Done. Now, what does it where did that come from? Well, I've been an advocate in the community for over 20 years. Finding out my mom was diagnosed with HIV in 2002, it really hit home for me. And sometimes you're really not affected until you are affected. And just getting to take a deeper dive in my mom's health and her care, I also wanted to dive deeper into our community, who I can help, who I can care for, and not only I, who we can care for. And support. Support is everything. I learned about support in this community. How no matter what you are, no matter what color, what creed, what race, no matter what, you would always have someone that you could turn to, whether it's to my right, to my left, to my front, or to the back. I can always depend on someone in this community to be there to support me. I want to give that same support. So, Miss Get It Done, gets it done at all costs, no matter what. I I go against barriers, I advocate for anyone and everyone. I stand for what's right. Because my mom always told me, right is right and wrong is wrong, and right will never wrong anybody. So always do what's right. So unknowingly, this is my passion, and it's not work for me. I work for ATO Care Foundation. We are the largest global nonprofit providing care for over 3 million individuals living with HIV across 50 countries. We have over a thousand clinics where we provide free services for testing, prevention, and care. So why not? You're known for showing up, making sure people feel seen, heard, and cared for, whether it's in boardrooms or in the community. Now, the this work, as you said, it came to you in a very personal way with diagnosis of your mom. And I think that's probably a very unusual situation for most people who have been pride grandmarshals, uh, while some of them may have been individuals affected by HIV, being the child of a parent who has it is a different situation. And then you also have another strong family connection, which is that you are the sister of a death adult. And that's impacted your life and how you feel about things. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? Well, definitely. My oldest brother didn't understand what HIV was when my mother was diagnosed with HIV. He actually thought he had it. He goes, Where do I get tested? I need to know. I need to tell my girlfriend that I have HIV. And I'm like, No, you don't. I said, Are you sure you don't know? And he's like, No. And so I explained. It's a sexually transmitted disease. And also the other ways that you can end up with HIV or getting or it being transmitted to you. And he was clueless. So in that moment, I knew I had to educate another community. And that was the deaf community. And since then, I've done focus groups, I've walked deaf clients through our testing processes. I've gotten deaf clients into care. I have deaf individuals of our community who actually reach out to me on Facebook and they're like, what does this mean? Why is it red? I know red is bad. And so I actually take the time out to explain. And then I will go to them because it's always about meeting the people meeting people where they are. And that's how we best meet the needs of our community. So I will go directly to them or have them come to me, walk them through the process, and just ensure that they have an experience like no other, where they feel included, because inclusivity is everything when it comes to our community. And that's all people want to feel is that someone took the time out of their day to make them feel seen, heard, and noticed no matter what. And that's what I thrive on. Do you sign? I do. I actually have my associate's degree in sign language interpreting. And I am working on my certification, but I actually love the interpreting community. So I know a lot of interpreters. And even if I'm not board certified, I can very much so I am very fluent. So I identify myself as a bilingual individual. Indeed, you are, if you know American Sign Language. We have actually a rather large deaf population within the queer community in Houston, yet we don't see them. And it's a barrier in so many ways. And I keep thinking through the years, like, what would be the best ways we can engage the the deaf queer community? And I haven't come up with the answers. I'm not that closely associated with it, even though I have worked with the deaf community and have been an advocate for people with uh different abilities or disabilities. So I really applaud your work. It's so vital to have someone like you that can reach out beyond just, I certainly say the regular community, but it's not regular in any way. And and there's all kinds of situations and just one one never knows. So we we do know that education being informed is uh key. What what other thing do you wish that people understood about HIV prevention? That it doesn't have a color, it doesn't have a face, and it doesn't discriminate. So protecting your sexual health is one of the most important things that you could do in your life. In the blink of an eye, you could be the person receiving that diagnosis. Prevention is there, prep is here. Um we have new injectable prep. So you're not receiving a reminder that you have to take a pill every day to prevent HIV. You now have the option of taking an injection every two months or an injection twice a year. So with the new developments, I plan to educate not only our community where everyone can hear, but most importantly as well, our deaf community. They need to know these options are available to them so that if a person is living with a child and they come in contact with them, love is still love. You can still live a long time, you can have sexual intercourse with this person, understanding that you equals you. If you're undetectable, you're untransmittable. So I plan on continuing to educate everyone with more of a focus on a deaf community. And by doing so, throughout every event for pride, I will have a personal interpreter with me. So anytime I voice any word, if anyone's around that and they are deaf, they will have someone to communicate with them directly. If not myself, most importantly, that interpreter is there. That's wonderful. This is Deborah Moncriefell. I'm speaking with Ashley Barnes, one of the grand marshals for Pride Houston 365, the 2026 celebration. And the grand marshals perform ceremonial duties, lead the parade, and serve as Pride ambassadors for Pride Month and throughout the year. What would you say is your number one achievement for the queer community? My number one achievement is the impact that I've had on our community by being myself, by being true, by being genuine and supportive. I'm a team player, and I just want to see our queer community in the city of Houston thrive and continue to be successful. So, in whatever way I can support that with anyone, I want to be that person. Is there anything that I didn't ask you about that you would like folks to know? Yes. I would like for folks to know for the parade, we are going to step out and camouflage because yet again, we've won this fight. We've won this war. The fight is not over because there would still be things that stand against us as a community, but we are always going to win because of who we are, because of how we are. And we love everyone. And just a special, special shout out to our trans brothers and sisters. You are all continue to be you. You are always supported by us as a community as a whole. Never forget that. No matter who, would, when, why, or where, you can never be wiped away because you have a family in this community. So just to close out, I want to say a quote that was printed in Out Smart magazine and a little article about you. As a proud lesbian, I live my life out loud so the next generation can see that there is beauty, freedom, and peace in being exactly who you are. If my journey helps even one person choose authenticity over sphere, then everything I have walked through has been worth it. Ashley Barnes, your 2026 female identifying Grad Marshall. Thanks for being with us on Queer Voices. Thank you so much for having me. Hi there,
Tamara Siler Brings Cabaret To Stage
this is Brett Cullum, and today I am with Tamara Siler. She is going to be at Main Street Theater through June 13th with a one-woman cabaret show called Sinners and Saints. Now, I know Tamara from the theater scene and her appearances in the Paul Hope cabarets at ovations, but in her formal biography, she is a veteran of over 90 theatrical productions around Houston, which is crazy. I know I've seen her so many times. Xanadu from stages, Bad Boy, the musical, the panto version of Hansel and Gretel, Susical, Little Shop of Horrors, Avenue Q, Dream Girls. I mean, come on. It just goes on and on and on. She's also currently the treasurer for Thundercloud Productions, one of my favorite producing companies here in Houston. So thank you so much for agreeing to talk with us all about all things sinners and saints. Well, thank you so much for having me, Brett. I really appreciate it. And I can't believe you've seen all those shows. I can't believe it either. No, last year I saw 56 something shows, but there you are. My life in the theater. But your life in the theater right now is at Main Street Theater. What made you want to do this cabaret for them? It is something that Becky, Rebecca Greenut, and the artistic director, and Andrew Ruthfin, who's the associate artistic director, and I have been kind of just mentoring about for a few years now. And then finally last year we started to get serious. I had an opportunity to do a cabaret at stages during the pandemic, and that was a virtual cabaret. And so it almost felt like it was it was a great opportunity. It was almost unfinished business. And so when Becky and Andrew opened the door for this idea, I felt like this might be my last possible chance to do something this ambitious and and something I've wanted to do for a long time. And with a theater that actually gave me my first theatrical opportunities as a student at Rice University. And so it just seemed to be the right time. And I'm so glad that Main Street Theater decided to take a risk and or take a take a gamble and put it out there. And so I'm really excited about what we're putting together. Now you did Caroline or Change There, is that correct? I did. I did. Wow. And of course you were Caroline. I was Caroline. And it was an amazing opportunity. It so much so that actually I got to meet Tony Kushner that year because Rice just happened to have him as one of their president series speakers. And when they knew that I had done Caroline or Change earlier in the year, and and actually Tony Kushner sent some of his family over from Lake Charles, because this was the location that had been closest to the home base of where the story is set. And so he sent some people over there. So and I finally got a chance to meet him at uh, you know, thanks to Rice. And then when he started giving a speech, he started, he said, Do you want to do a few bars, Tamara? And I was like, No. Not right now. But I said, Well, I I kind of said I kind of shook my head, but if he had insisted, I think I would have. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's crazy. Well, going to the present, Sinners and Saints, that's the name of this cabaret. What does that mean to you? Which one are you? I think, and it's funny because I started off calling it Saints and Sinners, but Sinners and Saints runs off the tongue a little bit better. But the show is divided into the saints first and sinners last. And and and I think it's one of those things where we're we're playing with who is indeed a saint and who is indeed a sinner. And I think a lot of society brands people as one or the other. And my idea is based on my own experience, is that there are times when one can be a saint and one can be a sinner and in the next moment. And so, but what does that really mean? And and having fun with the idea by framing it in music. And there will be songs that will be we do, we don't do a lot of religious, we do maybe one spiritual and then a little bit of who by definition, when we say saint, you know, what is that really meaning and and you know, and then also sinners, you know, sinners, sinners are thought of as bad, but are they really? And so just sort of bantering about those ideas, because I think there's a place and and times in your life when you have to be one or the other. Yeah, no, absolutely. Now, this is 80 minutes and it's just you, but you've got some special guests. I do, I do, and we just released that information today. And so our my kind of take on that was that, you know, I don't think of myself as old, but I've been doing this for quite a while. I think my first show in Main Street Theater was 42 years ago. So, and there's a whole generation of new talent on the scene that are doing some amazing work around town. So when we were talking about the idea, I said, Well, why don't we open the door to a younger artist to join me for for the show, give them an opportunity to do their own solo and then an opportunity to do a duet. And so we've identified a different artist for each weekend. And No way. Yeah, so we've so we we we're we just released the information about who they are today. And so so I'll I'll get to do the first weekend with Whitney Zangarini, who is appears with me in the Paul Hope cabarets, and and then Angela Panina, who just did a fantastic run with Garden Theaters production of company. And then and Angela and I have known each other for years since we did Best Little Whorehouse in Texas at the at the previous country playhouse, now Queensbury Theater. And then Trey Morgan Lewis will be the third weekend, and he and I had a chance to be in the Main Street Theater production of Dog Act. These are young performers who I'm very familiar with their work, impressed by it. And so each of them will get a chance to join me for a different weekend. Oh man, that's amazing. So, how did you get started in performing? What was that like? I actually probably started performing seriously with my middle school. I went to Fleming Fine Arts Academy, which was sort of the started the whole magnet program in HISD. I actually my first role that I played was in elementary school in f in fourth grade as a witch. And I got to be so, you know, a witch then, and then I got to be the witch and into the woods. So there, you know, there are some things that keep coming up as themes. And I have played a couple of witches, a couple of housekeepers, a couple of this and a couple of that. So we'll see. But yes, so I really started getting serious about it when I was in when I was in middle school, but I was primarily backstage. Uh I told someone that recently, and they were like, What? You weren't on the stage? I said, No, I was I was backstage. I didn't necessarily think I had the talent to be on the stage. And finally, in high school, when I went to high school for the performing and visual arts, HSPDA, my theater, musical theater director there, Dr. Barron, he was kind of like, I believe there's something there. And he challenged me with a song, and he just kept pushing at me in front of my classmates to sing, to sing, to sing. And finally I sang something that he said, now that's what I've been waiting for. And so that just had that opened the door and haven't closed it yet. And when I went to to school at Rice, I thought, okay, well, it's time for me to get serious about a career. And and I don't think Rice, you know, there wasn't an opportunity to really think about, I mean, theater was very big at Rice in terms of an activity, but it wasn't necessarily a formal theater program. So I actually started at Rice as an engineer, ended up getting a history degree, but then ended up working with an oil company. But I'll do that during that, there were just little opportunities that kept popping up. I mean, I did hair at Rice, a very interesting, crazy production of hair that actually was really, really good. And then I had my first show here at Main Street Theater doing Viney, the character of Viney, and The Miracle Worker, and doing youth theater, and then also doing working at Rice, and and and so the I kept trying to leave theater alone just so I could focus on my career, and it just kept pulling me back. And then country play. House. I started there with Tim Driscoll, God rest his soul, great guy, who really kind of got me invested in theater again and got me to love it and understand how it might fit into my life. And so from then I just started figuring out ways that I could keep theater into my life. And pretty much since the mid-80s, I've been doing shows here and there and got really serious about it in the early 90s. Did a number of shows with Tuts and stages, of course. You mentioned Bat Boy, fantastic experience. And just I'm just absolutely one of my one of my cinema faves of doing that. But also with theaters, we talk a little bit about theaters that are no longer with us, like the little room downstairs where I did Life, directed by I we were talking about, I think Ron Jones has directed me more than anybody in this town. But it it just it just kept coming back. And what I found was that the theater made me actually a better, uh, a better communicator in my in my work. It kind of began to to play off of each other. And it also just kept me sane during some of the crazy times at the office. So, and here I am quite a few years later, and still thankful that people find things that fit me. Great to have found Paul Hope cabarets and really something that is flexible enough that I can keep doing it even when I have to travel for work and do all of the projects that I have to. But this has just been a wonderful way to kind of remember all of the wonderful things that I've been able to do over the years on various stages around town.
Theater Career, Rice Work, And Allyship
Now you mentioned that you you travel for work. What do you do? I'm actually a college and I'm in college admission at Rice. Okay. I've held a couple of, I've had several positions. This is my 34th year as a member of the Rice admissionslash enrollment division. And and it it really, I feel like my theatrical endeavors have helped me to go out into the world and present rice in ways and meet different people. A lot of what we do is that we have to meet people and be ready to hit the ground running with whatever we're saying about the institution and be able to talk to people who may not be as easy to talk to in terms of they're very shy. And then also being able to make a message and to have an impact on people and know it, letting them know what a wonderful experience Rice was. And it was a great experience for me. I'm still very involved also in in student life and volunteering when I can. So one of the things we talk about is I didn't end up having the traditional life that I thought I was going to have. I didn't end up getting white dress and walking down the aisle, even though I was engaged, but I had never, never had that. But in a way, I still have had an incredible experience of seeing young people grow and being in a position where I get to support and mentor them in a variety of ways, not only through the college application process, but through their time at Rice. The theater piece, I've actually done some theaters, theater things as as a non-student at Rice and helping students out in that regard and put appearing in things such as chess at the school. I also appeared in chess at Theater Under the Stars. So I actually love that show. I wish I'd seen it when I was in New York anyway. Oh, it's one of my favorites. Oh my gosh. Yes, no. It's it's great. And speaking of like favorite shows, do you have a favorite role that you've done? That's it's really hard. I'm gonna go with Caroline just because it was such such an incredibly challenging experience because I think it was it's it was a role that was not necessarily like me in terms of Caroline's bitterness and her mistrust of the world and her just I mean, taxitarian ta tactiturn, is that the right word? I was like, I don't she just was uh but the reality is maybe I I I identified a little bit more than that in that here she was, she did have hope in the world, and it just kind of got beaten out of her in some ways by life. I constantly in the in the world that we have today try to remember to still be hopeful. But I think that are times where I can totally understand how Caroline could get to where she is. But it was and and the music's amazing. It it just the way Janine Tessori and they work together, just the songs, it's almost an opera. There's so much singing in that's in that show. And yes, there are scenes, but the music really is what propels the story forward. So are there any roles that you've always wanted to do? Or like if I were gonna produce a show and it's Tamiris Dream Show, what would that be? I'm not sure it's a dream show, but the role that everybody thinks I've played, that I have never played, based on the fact that I've sung music from the show, is Mama Morton from Chicago. Everybody says, You must have played Mama Morton. I'm like, no. We tried a couple of times to produce that at a couple of theaters around town that could put on a show of that scale, but it never quite made the cut. And I have always wanted to play that role. That would probably be my my top answer in that other people feel I've done it. So I don't know. It if there are others that just come to my head, I got to play so many iconic roles, and I'm so thankful for that. I got to play The Witch in Into the Woods. I got to to play, uh, which I think is one of, I mean, a definite other favorite. I got to play Effie and Dream Girls. I played Queen and the Life. I've played some that people in that are familiar with musical theater would think, wow, those are really uh in oh goodness, why am I blanking on it? The and I'm gonna be singing a song for this, Once on This Island. That's why I'm showing you. Yes, once on this island. I saw that. Like I'm not sure. I'm a little long in the tooth now for it, but but I I can't wait to see it. It it it is such a beautiful musical. It's just, I mean, the music, the story. I remember, you know, nights when we would get to sing, This is why we tell the story. And uh and I got to play Lisa in A New Brain. And I think that that is that is probably one of my favorite musicals I've been in that nobody talks about. And it is one of the most beautiful musicals and so personal to William Fan. He reached out to us when we were doing it. He didn't have a chance to come to the show, but he'd heard about the accolades that that the show was guard was was was getting from from audiences and also from reviewers. And uh it was just it really was one of those wonderful, beautiful experiences, a perfect cast. And and you know, there's not there's not a lot of my shows that make me try on the regular, but I had I feel so much spring at the end, that that being the closing number and thinking about so many people that there are musicals that take me back to certain times, and that's one of those musicals thinking about the meaning of life and death and and celebrating life and not being too caught up in the craziness that can really remind that can really take us away from the joy of living. That in musical in particular, I lost a really good friend during it, and it just was one of those things that and I find myself in musicals and in different times in my life that there has been that that that loss or something, whether it be a physical loss of a of a person or a loss of something that was special to me. The music often becomes the opportunity to heal, but also the opportunity to remember. I've just had so many gifts, and this I feel is another gift that I'm being given to share some parts of my story. And I hope that when audiences come, they come ready to have fun. Because we definitely have thought about fun in this, but there will be a couple of moments, I think serious moments, that because of the story we're trying to tell, that hopefully people will be able to reflect on some of the things in their own lives that might be points of change, points of things not going the way you thought they would go, but also being surprised and amazed and just joyous that things you didn't expect to happen did. And so, and that you could not not have ever expected. So I think sometimes one of my favorite lines is in music is from a band, semisonic's closing time, and every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. And and I just think about how many times that's been true for me. It's never, even though there is an ending, there is the opportunity always to re to begin again. Yeah. Well, talking about this show and thinking about it, and and if we can talk about singing for a second, how do you choose songs for yourself? I mean, I know usually when you do a show, the the song's already written. If you do Paul Hope, he's already picked out some stuff to do. But how do you pick songs that, hey, I want to do this and I want to do that? It I mean, while it's primarily been driven by me, I have we've had some negotiation moments. Stephen Jones and I have worked together since the early, well, since uh the late 1990s. I always want to make it early 1990s, but he and I met each other on the life, but still that's almost 30 years ago, and we've worked together in a variety of capacities. So I trusted him to come up with some solutions. And then when we talked about it, Andrew, who is directing the piece, he also came up with a couple of things. A couple of things we tried. We were saying we were being ambitious, and finally we were like, that's not, it's not quite working for us. We don't want to get something out there and be working so hard at it. Part of this is we wanted to kind of meet the theme, but also to create something in which the audience could come with us in a way that wasn't too abstract. There's something for everybody, I believe, in this show. And Steven brought up a couple of songs that I'm like, okay, they fit perfectly. You know, one I from Steel Pier that we're gonna be doing, and that I was, I'm not as familiar with that musical. But I think together our knowledge of music has allowed us to kind of pick a couple of sets that I feel really will hopefully touch anybody who's interested in who who is a fan of musical theater, and they may not love every song, but I think they're actually gonna love a lot of songs, and and some of them will be very familiar to them, and some of them may not be as familiar to them. Well, I want to get into this part of your life. You are considered an ally, and in fact, your cabaret is going to be dark during pride events this year. You're actually gonna be going to Pride, is that right? Yes, I'll be a I'm I'm on the steering committee for Rice Alumni Pride, and so we have our entry into the Pride Parade. So I'll be marching out there. I'm I'm a little excited about the fact that it's gonna be early June and not late June, which often for this 60-plus-year-old body to be walking around, and also a relatively zooptic chick. Not that June is gonna be just the beginning of June, it's gonna be so cool, but I think it'll be a little different. I started doing serious theater in the 80s, and of course, we know what was happening in the 80s, and I even think about my own class at PVA when I graduated in 1982, and just 10 years later, there we had 168 people in our graduating class, and when we met just 10 years later, 10 of them were already gone. And so, so it's it's always been an important issue to me in terms of making sure that I'm creating space for people to have for their voices to be not, you know, not just tolerant and tolerance is not the goal, celebration and and support at all times is is is what I'm looking for. I I put myself in in a position where I hope I support any community that I am part of. Learning also to that support doesn't mean putting yourself out there, it means you know elevating those around you so they're so that they their voices can be heard. But also sometimes when they're not in the room, that then that's when you need to step up. If they're not, if if if the right people aren't in the room to make those decisions, then that's when you need to take the lead. But and we have some someone at Rice, one of our young, one of our students who's been, has gotten one of the pride accolades that we're very excited to to have Dutrick Fitzgerald. And uh it's like so so we're very excited, excited for them. I'm all I'm always still learning. And I think that that's as an and also one of my one of my really great fellow rights alumni friend, and I'm always learning from Brandon Mack, who has been over a lot of the advocacy work in Houston, and he was he himself was a grand marshal, and I always kind of take some cues from from him, you know, when it's time for me to support, but step back so the right voices can be heard. But it's it's it's something that I I consider a joy of my life to have even been given the opportunities to support my friends, support the community, support, and make sure that students who are still finding their voice, creating that safe space for them to, you know, find their voice in their own time. And that's one of the roles that I see for myself at Rice. It's also a role that I've played on a national level with our National Association for College Admission Counseling. I've been the inaugural chair of our LGBTQ steering group on that level. So and then when it was time, I said it's time to pass this off to someone who is fully part of the community and and for them to lead. And I will support them in any way possible. But I think in all cases, when you're talking about people whose voices need to be heard, you need to make sure you're centering the right people and not make it all about you. Lead maybe to get it started, but then step aside to let the people who really should be leading take take the take the front seats. Well, and what's amazed me about Rice is as an institution, you've really stepped up. The state schools, the DEI programs, and any admission of that these people even exist on their campuses is been decimated in the last few years. And I I remember Rice opened up and said, hey, if you go to UFH, if you go to wherever else in the the school you are and you can't get together and you don't have a resource or a group to get together, come to ours. Yes. And I and that has been such I'm so proud of everyone involved in making that decision. It doesn't come without criticism, but at the same time, you know, what doesn't? And it's like doing the right thing rarely comes without somebody pushing buttons and trying to make sure that whatever you're trying to do that's good gets shut down. I'm so glad we were able to step into that space. And again, it's so it was clearly it is so appreciated. And to see us continuing to grow. Um, one of the things that we've recently added is a citywide lavender graduation. And so that happened. I wasn't able to make it this year, but I I was able to be there last year. And it's just, it's wonderful seeing you, I mean, because we do this, this I we do identity-based sort of other celebrations of students and to see students be able to come together and celebrate and also see the extension of how they're not alone in the city and psych. So, and but also to create a space where students whose communities are hamstrung and can't help can't celebrate them in the ways that they deserve to be celebrated, being able to uh support them is also, you know, just is such a joy. And and it's it is it is something for those that would be against it. I wish they could be open-minded and see what these students, in addition to being a student, often what they have to navigate when their families aren't supportive. We want to make sure that even if their families are not supported, that they feel supported and they sh feel celebrated. And and so creating that space has also been such such a joy and such a such a privilege, if you will. And I'm glad I am so proud of Rice for walking, walking the talk because a lot of people do a lot of talking, but Rice walks it as well. Yeah. Well, Tamara, we're proud of you and proud to to join you on this journey at Main Street Theater running through June 13th, ironically, right during Pride season. Sinners and Saints. So, and it's uh it's a cabaret show. I noticed the seating configuration is a little bit different. Are you gonna have tables in the middle section? Yeah, yeah. In the middle section, there'll be about four tables, I think with four seats each. And yeah, if you want to get a little closer, and there are signature cocktails, both uh in the in the saints version, it's a is a non-alcoholic cocktail, and then you have a centers version featuring in another life. We'll talk about my my affinity for bourbon and my past as an ambassador for the Black Bourbon Society. But you know, that's another that's another that's a whole nother podcast. Oh yeah, no, we're we're booking that one later for sure. Once you get done, then you can start dipping into the bourbon. But but we're so excited to see you at Main Street Theater. So we will definitely be there, of course, as always. Thank you so much. Well, thank you. Thank you for this opportunity, and I I really appreciate it. I can't wait to see you there. And I hope it'll be everything that I hope that I hope would touching, but also lots of fun. Yeah, no, I'm sure it will be.
Donate To KPFT And Keep It On
So KPFT is very important to give voices to those who might not otherwise have voices. You participate by listening, but you should also participate by supporting the station. So please go to KPFT.org and make your donation right away. This
Brad Pritchett And Equality Texas
is Brian Levinka and I have the extreme honor of being able to interview Brad Pritchett, the CEO of Equality Texas. Welcome to the show, Brad. Happy to be here as always. Now, Brad, I want to know who Brad is. In case people out in the audience don't know who Brad Pritchett is. Tell us who you are. Well, currently I'm the CEO of Equality Texas, which is the state's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization. Equality Texas has been around since 1978. Outside of that, I'm a native Houstonian, worked in the LGBTQ community for, well, most of my adult life, it feels like, at this point. Before I was at Equality Texas, I worked at the ACLU of Texas. I helped as a volunteer in a lot of different organizations, showed up wherever people needed to be supported or there needed to be somebody doing some grunt work. I love good grunt work, but have really tried my best to be as productive and as effective as I can be as a member of our community helping to advocate for our rights. You know, and if there's any organization in our state that goes underappreciated, it's Quality Texas because you're doing the the work of our community, especially at the state level. Well, I appreciate that. We have a really small team at Equality Texas, and we're covering a lot of issues and situations happening across the state of Texas. Any chance we have to talk about the work that we do, any chance we have to help people understand kind of what's at stake and all the moving parts that sometimes aren't as aren't as easy to see when you're not as close to it as we are. We're so happy to make sure folks have an understanding of that and give people the tools they need to advocate for themselves wherever they live in Texas. Yeah, because living in Texas in the cities, it's a different experience than living out in the sticks, out in the suburbs, out in the country towns. For sure. I mean, I grew up about 30 miles north of Houston in what used to be a pretty rural area. It's not as rural anymore because of the way our the way our cities kind of sprawl outward. But as a young gay person in New Caney, Texas, I was terrified that people were gonna find out I was gay because I didn't know anybody else who was openly LGBTQ at the time. And you live in these conservative communities where visibility feels really challenging. One of the things that we try to do at Equality, Texas is really spend some time focusing on pride celebrations in those communities, in those small towns across the state, places that feel really conservative. But the thing that one of the lessons that I've learned over the years of working in progressive politics and in LGBTQ politics is there are parts of the state that feel really, really red, really, really conservative, but there are pockets of LGBTQ plus people there and progressive folks, and when they find each other, they tend to clump together and organize in ways that are really, really effective and support one another in really beautiful ways. It's funny that you mentioned pride because you are nominated as a distinguished grand marshal. Is that correct? I am one of the three distinguished grand marshals, and then I think we have two posthumous distinguished grand marshals this year. And for people that don't know, the distinguished grand marshal is chosen by the the past uh grand marshals rather than the community. So it's an elevated honor for work that's been done. I'm floored that I was put forth as one of the distinguished Grand Marshals, especially considering the other folks are in also in that category with me. I mean, you're running a statewide LGBTQ organization. I mean, hello. Yeah, maybe. But when you're next to somebody like Judy Reeves or somebody like Jack Berger or somebody like Ken Kennedy Lofton, who I worked with for a long time while he was at Mantra Center, it just doesn't feel real in some ways because those folks have done so much work and continue to do so much work for the community. It's your imposter syndrome coming into play. I don't see myself on the same level as those folks as far as the work that I've done. But I'm grateful for the for the honor and any chance to stand alongside those folks is always kind of lovely. And getting to celebrate people like Kennedy, I think, is beautiful. Oh, you're too humble. You do you're doing the work as we speak. So I'll take your word for it. Yeah. Okay, let's get into our Grand Marshall questions. So, first question is what does Grand Marshall nomination mean to you? I thought about this a lot just in the process of I've been nominated for Grand Marshall, I think at least one other time that I remember. And I'm not a I am a competitive person in some respects, but the Grand Marshall stuff to me has always been a challenge because every time I've been nominated, I've always had other people who were nominated in the same category who I thought were more deserving of it. So I think people got frustrated with me a few times because I would say, don't vote for me, vote for this person, they're better. But this year, the Distinguished Grand Marshall was a surprise and it's it's lovely and a beautiful honor. And I'm very grateful for it. But for me, it does feel like when we're looking at the different folks who've been selected as the Grand Marshals, we've got this really amazing cross-section of our community. So for me, it is about that visibility. It's how are we bringing that visibility to everything we do, not just during the month of June? And everybody who's in this category, in all these categories for Grand Marshall, is doing that. They're living pride essentially 365 days a year, every single day. And that's what I take from it is yes, you get to be honored in this beautiful celebration and we get to do the parade and we get to have all these things that are happening. But at the same time, it is really about how do you take that and make sure that it's happening all the time. Like we need to be making sure that the visibility of the community is constantly being put at the forefront. Absolutely. Can you tell us about the first time you went to Pride or your favorite experiences at Pride? My first Pride story is actually pretty decent. I was in college. I was not out to my family yet, but we were having tensions at home because I was living my double life of when I was in Houston being part of my community and when I was back home with my parents, not really talking about it. So my mom and I had gotten into this large fight. And like I said, I grew up, you know, about 30 miles north of Houston. And I remember getting in my car and just leaving. And I had been to Montrose sparingly. I had gone to Numbers because Numbers was everybody's first club if you grew up in Houston. So I was thinking to myself, like, I'll drive to Numbers and see what's happening. And as I kind of drove into Montrose, traffic was ridiculous. It was just back to back, bumper to bumper, and people were walking all over the streets, and I had no idea what was going on. So I parked and then kind of just followed the swarm of people and stumbled onto the corner of Montrose and Westheimer where the Pride Parade was happening. So I had no idea the Pride Parade was even a thing at that point. You went after having an argument with your mom to Montrose and the parade was just happening to go on. Correct. I thought that is not a sign from a higher power. I don't know. I thought the same thing. And I look back on it, and for my very first pride, it was one of those things where the I've said this before in some other spaces. I was struggling with how do you tell your parents you're a queer person. Had this big fight with my mom, was gonna go to numbers because that's the only place I'd been, um, and I knew I could get in. And then yeah, the community was just like, no, no, here's a here's a celebration instead. You should just be involved in this celebration. There's a much bigger party down the street. It was it was the first time I had ever experienced a pride parade before, and it was incredible. I mean, I look back on it now as like meant to be in a lot of ways for sure. So what year was that, by the way? That was 199 it was either 1999 or 2000. I believe it was I think it was on the cusp of 99. No, it was ninety-nine because I was too young to get into the real bars. I don't look at you as a young, young gay boy trying to get into the bars. Well, just in getting in getting in anywhere. That's the reason I was going to numbers is because I knew I could get in. Yeah. Uh because it was all ages. But I couldn't go to like, you know, on certain nights you couldn't go to Riches because where I met my husband, yes, it is. Um in like 2001. Holy ground to me. I mean, riches is one of those places where when we get to see stuff still happening in that place, it makes me so happy because it was a it was a source for a lot of fun and a lot of friendships that I had. Some of the best memories I have probably of being a young gay person in Houston or something to Riches. I remember like in the 90s, you would lose people in Riches for like an hour. Absolutely. You couldn't find them. I'm like, where are they? And it's just that multi-level kind of situation that Riches still kind of has where you could be on the dance floor in the thick of it, or you could be upstairs kind of watching from a distance and like taking a breath and just different spaces to congregate in with your friends. So yeah, Riches was Rich's was and remains a very special place for me. So I know you kind of covered this, but what does pride mean to you? I mean, for me, it really is about how do we how do we take the energy that we have during the month of June when everything feels so like pro-us and translate that into something that is throughout the course of the year. So for me, it's about how do we, how do we really like amp up the fact that like our community's here, our community is deserving of recognition, we're deserving of celebration, and it shouldn't just be in the month of June. It should be every single month of the year. So it's an opportunity to really make connections with folks. It's an opportunity to talk about what our community's doing, what our community needs, and to try to translate that into action for the rest of the year. And I think this kind of goes along with what you just said, but how how is pride relevant these days? It's more
Why Pride Feels Urgent Now
relevant now than it's ever been, I think, in a lot of ways. It's more relevant now than it has been probably since the height of the AIDS crisis, uh, with the level of hostility that the community is facing. We've got pride events across the state of Texas and in communities where they're trying to shut them down just because they don't want to have a pride celebration in their community. We've got pride events in parts of the state where you've got anti-LGBTQ activists who are lying about the law and saying you're not allowed to have a drag queen in public at all, which is not true, um, and trying to get pride celebration shut down. We have folks who are literally calling our community, again, groomers and all kinds of other horrible names while protecting folks who have all this power in politics who have very credibly been linked to crimes against people and crimes against young people and children and women. So, I mean, for me, this is the year where it needs to be as loud as it possibly can be because we need to be able to give people a catalyzing moment to understand where we are right now and what is necessary to move us back in the direction of better progress than we're currently seeing. So, did you hear that? The CEO of Equality Texas is calling for loud parades across the state. Absolutely. You can quote me every community in the state of Texas should have a pride celebration. Equality Texas did 97 pride events across the state of Texas last year. We barely survived it because that's a lot of events all over the state. Imagine. And Texas is not a small state. Correct. I think part of it for us was really we would find out about these small town prides that were in year one or year two, and we didn't know about them. And somebody would reach out and say, Do y'all want to come and set up a table? And those are the ones that I mean, all the prides are important, but those first year, second year prides, like being able to help and get them off the ground, like help them have some kind of stability so that they have a successful pride this year so they can build on that for the next year. And then it's hopefully in five years' time that parade and that celebration are still happening. So we try to prioritize uplifting those small town events when we can. And sometimes that means driving three or four hours to get there because it's Texas. Right. Right. But it's worth it when you go into these communities and folks folks show up in the most conservative places. There's still people out there celebrating pride. And when they see organizations like Equality Texas at their event, they're shocked and so grateful. So that's one of the things that we try to do is just make sure we're showing up everywhere we possibly can. And again, we have a very small staff. So we depend a lot on volunteers who are helping us do that as well. So what was the one place that had a pride parade that you were surprised to see? It's like, I can't believe I'm here having this pride parade. I mean, more festivals than parades, honestly. So more festivals across the state than parades, which is So where was the one festival in the place that you would never have thought would have had one? I mean, places like Taylor, Texas, North Texas places, like Denton, there are places that feel very Abilene, places that feel very conservative that pull together for these small little pride events, and then they they're not actually that small. Tons of people show up. And in certain parts of the state, you have a pride celebration in one city and you've got folks, even in Houston, you get enough folks driving in 30 or 40 miles to get to it. So yeah, I mean, it's just all over the place. We have the first weekend of June, because we have Houston Pride. Um, I think we have five other Pride events happening across the state that we know of that we're attending. So they're all over the place. And yeah, it's really important to continue to uplift them. Okay, back to the questions. Yeah. This year, the theme is limitless. What does that mean to you? I think it's a great theme, number one, based on the community that we're all a part of. We historically have seen that when the community is under attack and resources get pulled away from us, kind of like what's happening now at the federal level, because we're in Texas, so the states never really cared that much for us and never really provided a lot. But when we see some resources getting pulled away, as a community build our own resources, we look to each other to help solve problems and fill needs and help address problems that we may not have support from the government on. The limitless theme is really a reflection of the community. Like there's nothing that our community can't do. There's nothing that we can't band together to push back against or build resources for. We just have to have the consideration of actually like stopping and figuring out what it is we need and then working together to build those things. What would you say is your number one achievement for the queer community? That's so hard to answer that question. It's such a I know you don't like talking about yourself, but No, I don't. I hate it. But if I really had to think about it, um, it's probably one of the things I love doing, and I don't get to do it that much in my job now, but I still fight to do it, is doing trainings and teaching folks how government works and what the levers of power look like and where your influence lies. So I think that part of what I still love to do and part of the that I one of the things that I feel like I've had a good impact on is providing people with those types of skills. And I've done a lot of trainings and on a volunteer basis when I was at ACLU, when I've been at Equality Texas, that help equip people with the tools they need to advocate for themselves and then getting to watch folks do it. I've learned a lot in my years doing advocacy work. I want to be able to share that information out with as many people as possible because as if we're continuing kind of sharing that information with folks, we're building, you know, new advocates every single day. And I look at the young trans and non-binary people who've been coming to the Texas Capitol with us for years, who are now adults because they've been doing it for so long. There are a lot of them who are getting involved in like advocacy roles, who are doing this work now professionally, and it's amazing and needs to be celebrated. I hate the fact that kids grew up having to go to the Capitol, but then seeing that they they really learned from it and decided it was gonna give them a life direction and they're fighting for our community is tremendous. And the fight is so necessary because they're being attacked, and it's just it's disheartening to watch from from a distance what's going on in Austin. Yeah. And it'll start again in January 2027. Yeah. My final question is is there anything that we didn't ask you that you want people to know either about yourself or about Equality Texas? I
Partners With Pride Fundraising
would encourage folks to go to equalitytexas.org. We've been doing this work since 1978, and I want folks to have an understanding of how how difficult it is to do this work on a couple of levels. Number one, our staff carries a lot of weight. We deal with people in crisis all the time. We're dealing with trying to stop bad laws from taking over across the state. But at the same time, funding for LGBTQ orgs like ours has diminished over the last few years since the second Trump administration, certainly. So for every hundred dollars that national foundations were giving, about 22 cents was going towards LGBTQ programs. And that number has decreased since that study was done. So we really are relying on community to help us close gaps in fundraising right now. So we've got something called Partners with Pride, which is a program that we're running throughout the course of Pride Month. Essentially, community members can build teams. Those teams can raise money for Equality Texas and compete for prizes. It's the first time we've ever done anything like this. But folks can go to equalitytexas.org, build out a team. And even if your team is only raising $100, $50, that is beneficial. And there's some good prizes folks can compete for. So EqualityTexas.org and on all of our social channels we're Equality Texas. And if people want to find out more about Brad Pritchett, where can they go? They can go to the Houston Pride Parade on June 6th, and I'll be waving from a car. It would be the gay one that right waving from the car, right? Correct. I will be the one gay man that you will see. There he is. He's going down the street, y'all. Right, exactly. Um, yeah. I don't know, I don't have any other place for folks to learn any more about me. But feel free to find me on social media, and I I generally am pretty accessible to folks. Brad is a nice guy and he's doing the work for our community, y'all. So get behind him and get behind Equality Texas and come out to the Pride Parade on June 6th. Anything else, Brad? I don't think so. I appreciate you though. Well, thanks for coming on, Queer Voices. Thank you. Thank you. This
Closing Thanks And Resources
has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston, and as a podcast available from several podcasting sources. Check our webpage at queervoices.org for more information.
