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Transcript

October 21 - Families With Pride In Houston · Queer Voices

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: This is Brian Levinka, and I have the honor today of interviewing Ebby Kamen, the Harris County attorney, as well as Tammy Wallace, the CEO of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the show.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having us.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, honor.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we're talking about this uh Families with Pride event.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: How did this all get started?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me the story.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll Tammy, I'll start.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I actually got a phone call from a constituent, uh Blake Ellis, and he and I were talking and he said, I I just want a place where I can go celebrate pride with my little boys, uh, with my kids.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yeah, me too.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we love the pride parade.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it's it's hot, it's off, it's late at night.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so again, we were just having this conversation, but as the council member for the area, I said, no, we're gonna do something about this.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna create a family-friendly festival uh to celebrate our LGBTQIA plus community here in the greater Houston area, but also all of the ally families, everyone that just wants to come together to lift one another up and celebrate.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And my first call was to Tammy Wallace, who has been a champion for this effort since day one.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, our Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce has been our partner.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're in our fifth year, uh, and I could not be more grateful to the chamber for making sure that this event is the success that it is.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: So, Tammy, what does the chamber do to get involved with this?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we've played a variety of roles over the last, you know, five five years, but this year we're helpful really leading on a project, uh project management working with the county attorney's uh office and um just shoring up, you know, all of the logistics with an event of this magnitude, which is going to be a, of course, fabulous Discovery Green, there are a lot of moving parts.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, as a chamber, we host about 120, 130 events a year.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we know how to do this and we know how to do it well.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: But when it's for a cause that we care about and having such an incredible partner like County Attorney Kamen, it makes it easy.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: It really makes it easy for us to do this this work through, you know, through um not only not only through the chamber, but our staff are very invested.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Many of our staff have kids, and it's just a great opportunity for them as well.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: So why isn't an event like this important?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Would you think?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's important because our families need to be represented.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And right now, uh in the current political climate that we're in, um, families need to see each other, kiddos need to see each other, uh, they need to see families that look like them.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we need to celebrate LGBTQ families.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that, you know, with County Attorney Cayman, she she took this idea, just listening to a constituent who said, we need a place.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: We need to be able to celebrate our families.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: And she took that from listening into action.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And now it's such a special day that we host every year.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you should see, I mean, alone seeing the joy on the kids' faces makes it all worth it.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm glad that it's in the fall.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, no, Brian, it's it's amazing.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: We actually pivoted to um LGBTQ plus history month, which is in October.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's cooler.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so kids are out of the heat, families are out of the heat.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's also at Discovery Green, so we get to take advantage of all of their uh not just their campus, but all of the fall festivities that they have too.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this year, right, it's October 24th and they have the pumpkin patch and all the different Halloween-related stuff.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we've incorporated this year all the kiddos, if they dress in costumes, there'll be special prizes for them too.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I this is focused on our kids and our families.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: But when you ask the question, you know, why is this so important?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm reminded of the um teenager that came one year who had never actually had a space where he could be himself, um, identify with others, but also just feel welcomed and open.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Or the adult, another community member actually that I worked very closely with in our neighborhood groups and organizations who actually started to cry because he said, I wish I had something like this when I was young.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: At a time when so many groups are being targeted by our state and federal government.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, just look at the horrific, horrific ads, political attack ads that are taking place that are pushing LGBTQ families front and center and being scapegoated.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is so important, not only as the county attorney, not only as our Chamber of Commerce, but for all of our community organizations to come together to say, this is Harris County.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: We welcome everyone, and you are welcome here and you are safe here.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that includes our partnership with law enforcement for this event.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Commissioner Brionis is a sponsor, Commissioner Garcia is a sponsor, Commissioner Ellis, Councilmember Panzerella, Cam, Councilmember Castillo.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's so the list goes on.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna mess up and not include someone, but we bring everyone together united to create a welcoming, family-friendly space that's free and open to the community.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really what this is about is celebrating.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: So, what can people expect at this event?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: They can expect to have a beautiful time.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's lots of activities, there's arts and crafts, face painting.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have a DJ in live music, uh, pride story time, mini golf by puttery, who's a sponsor, balloon artist, hula hooping, lots of community resources.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: We make sure that our community organizations are invited so that resources and information can be given out.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there'll be live animals.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh again, the kids' costume party, the list goes on, Tammy.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: What am I forgetting?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's just so much to do.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: There is so much, and that is the point, right?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: To make sure that families and the kiddos have plenty of um opportunities to have a good time, be together.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, from arts and crafts and the county attorney said it with this beautiful backdrop of Discovery Green, I, you know, in the middle of downtown Houston, uh, with a pumpkin patch.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: It is just such a special time to celebrate our families.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we make sure with all of these activations that they are going to have a very good time.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's such a wonderful event to kind of uh include everyone in in the family and be part of the community so so well represented.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited to be part of the Houston, uh the Harris County uh constituency that can celebrate this with y'all.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Now, one thing I noticed uh recently was that you were in a picture with the rainbow banners.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Talk about that.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um it so you mean with the Pride Banner District?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you know, we saw, I was still on council at the time, um the attempt to erase LGBT history, but also safety in the heart of historic mantros by our governor in a brazen uh discriminatory act, right, that was just blatant targeting of our LGBT commun community.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it blows my mind.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's baffling that our governor is wasting time on crosswalks uh when we can't afford um many people can't afford to put food on the table and health care and all of the issues that we're grappling with, high inflation, right?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oil prices.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: The list goes on, but he's obsessing over a crosswalk.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we got to work because we weren't going to allow anyone to attempt to erase what that crosswalk means, but more importantly, what this community means to Houston.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we worked with our civic clubs, with our super neighborhoods.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Tammy was very involved.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Pride Houston, Jack Valinsky gets a huge shout out in the super neighborhood.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: The civic organizations led this effort to bring back the historic Montrose Banner District.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And my office, when again, at the time I was on council, worked very closely with all of our community groups to reactivate the dormant banner district.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Banner districts are very standard in the city of Houston, right?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: We have different banner districts.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: This brought that back with flying colors.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I am so proud of what the community was able to accomplish to get this done, to say, we will be seen, we will be heard, and it's government that is local government that is standing right there alongside our community to say, not only we see, we hear you, but we are going to fight alongside you every step of the way.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so I heard that the mayor paid for this out of pocket.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Is that true?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: I that is what we have heard.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know that my office had allocated funding originally for it.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I am not involved in the the collecting of those receipts.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I will say that we are very grateful that the city of Houston um continued this work.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Also, Councilmember Panzarella, others really did carry out to get this to the finish line.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I I want to make sure and I appreciate you recognizing the the city of Houston's work in this.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it look, this was community-led.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we heard from folks, not just in the Montrose area, all over and what you saw throughout Houston, people started painting their own sidewalks, their own driveways rainbow.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: But it was so important that local government did something and did something loudly and proudly and made sure that we were sending the message that if you come for one of us, you come for all of us.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, again, Tammy, our greater Houston LGBT chamber, has been at the forefront of these fights for so long.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but nobody should be alone right now.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: With the attack, go ahead.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I was just gonna say, Brian, and you know, and to to the county attorney's point, no one should be alone.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: And look, this is what we do in Houston and Harris County, right?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: We make sure we create spaces for the LGBTQ community.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: And when those spaces are under attack, we're going to fight back, right?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: We are going to make sure that we are seen as and and our community can experience the inclusive and supportive city and and region uh that we know uh that we know it to be.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so whether you're standing on Westheimer now under one of these banners, because as the county attorney said, incredible work by uh community effort uh organizers, uh Jack, of course, playing a pivotal role in getting this done.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or whether you're downtown at Discovery Green on October the 24th with us, or you're downtown at the Pride Parade next year, this is what we do in this city and in this county and this region is we make sure that the LGBTQ plus community has not only a space and a place, but a voice.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it is because of leaders like the county attorney, those those banners didn't go up without her leadership.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh pride, uh, families with pride doesn't happen without her leadership.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: And when she left the city to take on the county attorney's role, um, look, she said, we're not stopping.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Families are pride.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're just getting started.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And she mentioned five years in.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: So just imagine what we're going to do with this kind of willpower, commitment, and and really dedication to community.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're really excited about what we can do over the long term.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: So can you talk about the importance of the uh government supporting our community, Tammy?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: Why is that important?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and uh, you know, uh obviously, you know, it would uh we're we're you know, our community has just been a punching bag, like many other communities in the state of Texas.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's just it's just free, free reign on, you know, attacking uh the LGBTQ plus community.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: The county attorney mentioned those ads that we're seeing.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine what that does to a kid that sees those ads, to a family, a parent that sees those, and now you're terrified for your child.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it is so vitally important that government step up uh and and uh could take on a leadership role and say, no, not in our house, right?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly what the county attorney's done, not not just with our community, but on so many issues that she's she's leading on and will continue to lead on.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, but that is exactly the role that government can play is standing up for those that cannot stand up for themselves or cannot always, you know, uh make sure that we've got a voice.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I assure you it is, you know, elected officials like her and others that are going to make sure that they have our backs.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and when we can't have a voice, they will do it for us.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I love how they are using the trans community as a attack point on James Tellerico, as if supporting the trans community is a detriment to his campaign.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he's just a compassionate person that's supporting our community.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, attack.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead, county attorney.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Please, Tammy, go ahead.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I was just gonna say, and attacking the trans community, I think this is a point that the county attorney made earlier, but attacking the trans community and minority communities and you know, uh picking up, you know, innocent people off the streets, and that's not happening, that's not helping my gas prices go down.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's not helping, you know, uh, you know, my wife goes and gets, you know, groceries and she's coming back and saying this is ridiculous, it's so high.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's not helping, you know, any of that.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's distractions.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: And what we really need to do is get back to the real issues that impact Texans, and that means all Texans.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: Now, is there anything you want our listeners to know about the event coming up before we head out?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Please, please join us.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's October 24th at Discovery Green from 10 a.m.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: to 1.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh again, this is a free family-friendly festival and celebration.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we we will have plenty of stuff to do.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it is a great time.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing to see the smiles on these kids' faces.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're so grateful to all of our partners, especially Discovery Green, who has welcomed us with open arms every year since we have been there.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, please come with your costumes for the kiddos.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is the Halloween weekend leading up to it.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it's gonna be great.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: 10 to 1 at Discovery Green on October 24th.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we look forward to another phenomenal year celebrating what is so special, not just in our LGBTQI Plus community, but what is so special for Houston and Harris County.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: Timmy, any thoughts?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just uh echo, you know, come and have a great time, right?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, we hope uh one family is gonna tell another family, and we have more people than we've ever had at this event.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really, really important this year that people come, show up, and feel feel supported.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: But most importantly, we're gonna roll out the red carpet and make sure all the kids have such a great time.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: And when kid the kids have a great time, the parents are really gonna enjoy themselves.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the space that we're gonna create.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna be a space surrounded by absolute love.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, let's emphasize again plenty of fun.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you, ladies, for coming on the show and all the work that you do in the community.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: Y'all are champions for the LGBT community here in Houston and Harris County.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Brian.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: And this is Queer Voices.