As a Fort Bend County resident for the last eight years, Hunny Phillips grew accustomed to traveling more than 40 minutes to engage with any LGBTQ+ events and Pride celebrations. 

But last year, she decided it was time for a change.

“I just got tired of that commute,” Phillips said. “We need something in our own backyard. Fort Bend County deserves to have our own LGBTQ celebration.”

With help from her wife Tiffany “Tip” Phillips and Chris Pino as the director of community engagement, the trio set out to secure community buy-in, their nonprofit tax-exempt status and sponsorship to launch a Pride festival in Fort Bend County. 

On Sunday afternoon, Fort Bend County Pride debuted in the Houston-area’s burgeoning pride scene, drawing more than 700 people to the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds. It joins the growing number of pride festivals emerging outside the City of Houston in recent years, including Brazoria County Pride, which hosted its second celebration in June, and Katy Pride, which will mark its second year in October. 

“We really started from nothing other than the clothes on our backs and the passion in our hearts,” Pino said. “We started in the George Memorial Library in those back meeting rooms, it was unventilated, no air conditioning, and now, here we are at the fairgrounds.”

The family-friendly event had more than 80 vendors, including a handful of inclusive churches, to jewelry sellers, food vendors and health services. The indoor space also featured a kids’ zone, senior zone, and a quiet zone for those who are neurodivergent, while the outdoor space included a bounce house, Houston Art Cars on display and a host of food trucks outdoors. 

After observing how the majority of attendees remained indoors to beat the heat, Hunny Phillips said the festival will likely occupy two indoor pavilions next year.

Although the festival didn’t have an official theme, unity was on full display with several neighboring pride organizations on-site, including Houston’s New Faces of Pride, Brazoria County Pride, Katy Pride, among several others, who joined Phillips to cut a rainbow ribbon at the beginning of the festival. 

“It’s fun because we’re seeing that so many people didn’t know any of these local pride parades existed and they’re from our community,” said Jessica Truscott, executive and operations director of Brazoria County Pride. 

“So I think it’s really helping all of us.”

Tiffany “Tip” Phillips said it was important to organizers to display unity and show representation from many of the surrounding Pride organizations, who have laid the blueprint to success of celebrating pride outside the loop.

“They already told us what to expect, and I think that was amazing,” she said.

Attendees also enjoyed performances from prominent Houston drag queens Alexye’us Paris and Dessie Love Blake, and a classic Indian dance.

“I was really happy to be a part of this because this — this is history,” Paris said minutes before performing on the main stage outdoors. 

Sugar Land resident, Amy Miller, who came to check it out alone, said she enjoyed the welcoming, friendly, community atmosphere. 

“There’s just so much love,” she said. “People of all walks, are just like, ‘Hey how’s it going?’ They’re willing to give you a hug, and that’s what I mean life should be.”

The event was only briefly interrupted by three protesters, who were quickly escorted out by security. Veronique Walker, who is on the board of directors at Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, said they recognized the group of men who she believed had been following them, protesting at their church and various events for the last several years. 

“One day we’re just going to circle them and pray,” Walker said. 

But attendees weren’t disturbed.

“On a Sunday this is an amazing turnout,” she said. “We will definitely do this again if they do it again next year. This is a good time.”

The more intimate the better

Jennifer Marks, who said she and her wife Tamisha have been longtime friends of Hunny Phillips, have attended Houston Pride festivals for years and at times felt overwhelmed. She felt more welcomed at Fort Bend County Pride’s intimate celebration.

“Houston is big,” she said. “This to me is more intimate connections, and you get more information because it’s not so crowded. And you don’t have to wait in line so long to get all the information. So I definitely enjoy it. …  it’s already overwhelming being who we are.”

Marks, who has lived in Rosenberg for nearly three years, said a celebration in Fort Bend County has been a long time coming.

“They should’ve had this years ago since 2015 when they said that we can get married,” she said. 

Now that Fort Bend County has a pride celebration, Marks said she and her wife will be regular attendees, especially since they only live 10 minutes down the road.

Ever since Lesleigh Houston and her husband Joshua moved to Richmond roughly two years ago, they have struggled to find family-oriented pride events, she said. They were excited to attend the Families with Pride event hosted annually at the beginning of June by District C Houston council member Abbie Kamin, but they were bummed when it was canceled due to weather. 

The Fort Bend County Pride festival presented a timely backup plan, and gives them something to look forward to every year that is just a short drive away from their home. Just 15 minutes into the festival, the couple was impressed. 

“I like it,” Houston said. “I didn’t know what to expect going into it. We were just open-minded.”

Houston said her youngest son, who is 5-years old, has worn dresses and enjoyed watching princess movies since age 2. She said she didn’t think much of it then, but now wants to help support him and help connect him with other young boys with similar experiences. 

“Our son has struggled seeing representations of other men or boys in dresses,” she said. “So he feels supported in our home and with our friends, but he doesn’t get to see it in the mainstream or just out and about — people outside of his circle.”

Representation delayed but not denied

Hunny Phillips and her team originally planned to debut the festival on Nov. 11, 2023, but encountered delays receiving their final determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service. By the time it was approved in December, Phillips said it was too late to secure funding from large corporations that year, so she pivoted to small and mid-size companies through the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce network and suddenly found success.  

“I didn’t realize how much people would appreciate this,” she said. “The community stepped up (with) in-kind donations, monetary donations. We’re fully funded; I don’t have to come out of my pocket for anything so I’m really happy about that, and (we’re) able to do more than what I thought we would be capable of.”

As a result of her will and determination and community support, the LGBTQ+ community in the state’s most diverse county now has representation — something that many collectively agree is long overdue.

“Gay people, lesbians, bisexuals exist everywhere,” said Nadia Hakim, a board member and the communications director for Pct. 4 Commissioner, Dexter McCoy. “They’re in suburban areas. They’re rural areas, they’re everywhere. They’ve always been.”

Fort Bend County Pride emerges at a time when the County is experiencing rapid growth gaining 27,000 residents in just one year. 

“As our community grows, I want to make sure everyone feels like they have a space here and they feel seen, like they belong, and how we establish this organization into community here really is part of our efforts to do that,” said McCoy. 

“If we’re not providing this space where folks can create community, then where do they go? Where do they turn?” 

Reflecting on his days as a district leader in Fort Bend ISD, McCoy said he would’ve loved to have Fort Bend County Pride for the many students he encountered who often felt othered and like they didn’t belong.

“Just think about what that would have meant for them, how they would view themselves and their place in our community,” he said. “Because when you invest in groups like this, when you invest in events like this, that helps people to want to participate in community anymore, and just think about all the untapped talents that exist because people don’t feel connected.”

In addition to helping Fort Bend County Pride secure the venue, McCoy said his office also helped the new organization obtain their membership into the Central Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce. In June the chamber welcomed Fort Bend County Pride with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and presented them with a “Business of the Day” certificate. 

“All these things are important to helping to build this,” said McCoy, who acknowledged that he was nervous about turnout in the first year. 

But the event far exceeded his expectations, he said, and now, he’s looking forward to the festival’s growth in years to come. 

“I imagine a day when this is far larger and greater in magnitude than this,” McCoy said.

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