Badge Of Pride

Some of our major programming exists because Dallas invested in us.

Our unique performance series, “CORRESPONDENCE: Letters of Q***r Resistance, Love & Revolution,” is funded in part by the City of Dallas Office of Arts & Culture. That public investment makes LGBTQ+ culture and history visible, on stage, in this city.

But here’s the thing: the City’s cultural funding is tied to sales tax revenue, and that revenue is down. The cultural ecosystem we all rely on is feeling it.

You have direct power over that. When you’re buying a new outfit, choosing where to eat, or making a big purchase, do it in the CITY of Dallas. That sales tax stays local and comes back to artists and cultural organizations like us.

Learn more: SpendItInDallas.com

***rHistory

We will be passing thru El Paso in the next few weeks and are looking forward to checking out this exhibit at El Paso Museum of History!

¿Quieres bailar esta noche? Photos of iconic ‘Noa Noa’ Juárez nightclub on display at El Paso Museum of History Long before it became a beloved song, El Noa Noa was a legendary nightclub where generations of border residents came to dance. A new Pride Month exhibit explores its enduring cultural and LGBTQ+ legacy.

Dressed for the Record The feelings of Cowtown locals nearly a century ago are largely left to the imaginations of writers and historians. The conversations, the glances, the private understandings between folks who couldn’t afford to be known — all are long evaporated in the Texas heat. What survives is almost accide...

We are honored to share that our exhibition, “Badge Of Pride: From Silence…To Celebration!” has received the National Council on Public History - NCPH’s Outstanding Public History Project Award for a Small Institution, recognizing the partnership between Badge Of Pride and Irving Archives and Museum as a model of professional public history practice.

NCPH cited how Badge Of Pride activated a 10,000+ object archive into a major exhibition and sustained public programming series, in partnership with Irving Archives and Museum. None of that happens without an institutional partner willing to take the leap. And Jennifer Landry and her entire team took that leap with us.

This is not about trophies. It is about validation.

Validation that LGBTQ+ history belongs in public institutions, before broad audiences, on the same terms as any other history.

Validation that organizations built from scratch by and for their communities can do rigorous work that stands alongside well-funded institutions that have existed for generations.

You made all of it possible. Every donation. Every volunteer hour. Every artifact you trusted us to steward. Every time you visited and engaged with us.

We founded this organization because this history was under threat. That hasn’t changed. We’ll keep going. 🏳️‍🌈✊🏳️‍⚧️

Thank you for believing in and supporting this work.

Q***r history survives because people choose to save it.

A letter kept in a drawer. A photograph rescued from a box. A button worn in protest. A voice recorded before it is lost.

These stories connect us to one another. They remind us where we've been, what we've overcome, and what remains possible.

At Badge Of Pride, we preserve LGBTQ+ history and put it to work through award-winning exhibitions, original performances, community archiving, oral histories, and public programs.

Today is Give OUT Day, the only national day of giving focused on LGBTQ nonprofits. Help us protect the stories that shape who we are and what comes next.

Give today:
giveoutday.org/organization/badgeofpride

***rHistory

What a lovely profile in Vogue of our friends over at The American lgbtq+ Museum!

A First Look Inside the American LGBTQ+ Museum “I want to show everyone that walks through these doors that American LGBTQ+ people have created and participated in some of the most monumental moments in this country’s history,” says museum director Ben Garcia of the space, due to officially open in 2028.

https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2026/06/houston-lgbtq-history-takes-center-stage-in-uh-libraries-exhibit/

Houston LGBTQ History Takes Center Stage in UH Libraries Exhibit A new exhibit at the University of Houston Libraries’ Special Collections traces Houston’s LGBTQ history from the 1940s to the present, drawing from photographs, handwritten letters, artwork, publications, clothing, and other rare materials held in the UH LGBT History Research Collection.