Browsing Tag

Texas

Taking Things ‘One Gay at a Time’: Houstonian Mycah Angelou Taylor’s New Podcast is All Things LGBTQ

Posted on February 2, 2021

A photo of One Gay at a Time podcast creator Mycah Angelou.

Mycah Angelou Taylor's podcast, One Gay at a Time, feels like listening to a good friend talk about anything and everything. Every other Wednesday evening marks the launch of a new episode, in which Taylor dives into topics ranging from their own coming out tale, to the “lavender tax,” to the intersection of Blackness and queerness. Whatever the discussion of the week may be, Taylor both educates and entertains their audience.…

Houston Cinema Arts Festival Perseveres in the Pandemic with “Urbana”

Posted on November 10, 2020

A photo of Houston Cinema Arts Festival.

With cinemas the world over closed for the foreseeable future, I wasn’t sure we would get a Houston Cinema Arts Festival (HCAF) in 2020. Thankfully for us, the staff of the longstanding Houston arts institution have proven themselves flexible, offering 2020 solutions to 2020 problems. This year’s festival, which runs November 12–22, will take place virtually and in a drive-in format at the Moonstruck, Show Boat, and Houston Ballet drive-in theatres, creating a pandemic-friendly cinema experience.…

Memories of Monica: Spectrum South Staff Remembers Trans Activist Monica Roberts

Posted on October 13, 2020

A photo of trans activist Monica Roberts.

On Monday, October 5, 2020, Monica Roberts passed away at age 58. Like myself, many on Spectrum South’s staff were impacted by Monica, her life’s work, her energy, and the legacy she leaves. To honor this irreplaceable powerhouse, below we share our collective memories of Monica. Rest in Power.…

Earth Toned: New Black, Queer-Owned Wellness Shop Promotes Holistic Healing

Posted on October 8, 2020

A photo of Donavyn Hightower, owner of Earth Toned.

Holistic wellness is a journey—one that Donavyn Hightower knows well. Born and (mostly) raised in Houston, Hightower, a proud pansexual, Black woman and psychology major at the University of Houston, has long been passionate about spirituality and astrology. She is now seeking to help guide others toward better mental health and healing through her new online wellness shop, Earth Toned, whose slogan is “Bigger, Brighter, Inclusive.”…

The Queer and Mysterious Houston I Know

Posted on September 25, 2020

I was a weird kid. I was, in fact, a weird, queer kid. I was, further, a weird, queer kid who did musical theatre, had agoraphobia, and, as I reached my teens, listened exclusively to New Wave music, wore eyeliner, dressed strictly in monochrome, and dyed my hair blue—all in Houston during the 1980s. And just to frame the timeline exactly, when I say I was a kid in the ‘80s, I literally mean I was aged nine through eighteen…

QFest 2020: Houston’s Annual LGBTQ Film Fest Hits Virtual Screens Sept. 24–28

Posted on September 23, 2020

The 24th annual QFest, Houston’s international LGBTQ film festival returns to screens this September 24–28—virtual screens, that is. This year’s fest will be held completely online, hosted by Cinenso, and feature nine feature films and 19 shorts from over 15 countries that highlight a variety of new filmmakers and stories. “I feel that people who engage with us this year will probably get the clearest understanding of what QFest has always meant to us,” says Kristian Salinas, executive and artistic…

Together We Serve: Houston to Be Home to First LGBTQ+ Lions Club in Texas

Posted on September 4, 2020

A photo of the Houston Montrose Lions Club.

On my dresser sits a small, gold and purple felt hat. I have no idea how old it is. It was a prized possession of my partner’s grandfather. Pinned to it are various accolades from the Lions Club of Barcelona, Venezuela—where my partner and his family are from. A perfect attendance pin from 1962, another from 1964, and so on.…

Mulholland to Marfa: How a Couple Destined for Hollywood Found Home in West Texas

Posted on August 21, 2020

A photo of The Lincoln owners in Marfa, Texas.

Marfa is a liminal space. It’s undeniable—the dusty roads, the streets that are somehow simultaneously vibrant and silent, and of course the infamous Marfa Mystery Lights. The small West Texas town exists on a plane that isn’t quite here nor there; a spot in the nether between Central Texas and the adobe settlements of New Mexico. If a film were to be made of the Welcome to Night Vale podcast and Marfa were chosen as the filming location, no one…

Leading While Black: Harrison Guy Opens Doors for New Leadership of Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board

Posted on May 28, 2020

When Harrison Guy assumed the role of co-chair of Mayor Turner’s LGBTQ Advisory Board in the summer of 2017, many of Houston’s LGBTQ community members saw him as the new kid on the block. Little did they know, he’d been on that same block for well over a decade—they’d just never walked on his side of the street.…

All He Ever Needed Was the Music and the Mirror: Houston’s Otis Berry Tackles Toxic Masculinity through Dance

Posted on December 4, 2019

In 2019, Good Morning America found itself embroiled in a scandal after co-host Laura Spencer appeared to mock the United Kingdom’s Prince George for taking ballet classes. That stigma—the notion of what boys should or shouldn’t do—is all too familiar to Houston-based dancer Otis Berry, who works to extinguish it with every kick.…

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