the Montrose Center

This week is packed with Pride! Here's everything coming up. 🏳️‍🌈

Thursday, June 18
Seniors 60+, join us at Law Harrington (2222 Cleburne Street) for Bingo at 1PM and our Pride Month Pasta Dinner at 6PM. Registration required: call 713-485-5084 or email [email protected].
Pride House Houston Watch Party with Space City Pride FC: Mexico vs South Korea, 8PM kickoff at Los Robles (10444 Hempstead Rd). Come cheer with your community!

Friday, June 19
Bridging the Gap: Juneteenth Vendor Fair, 12PM at the Center (401 Branard St), presented by Self Actualized, Inc. and The Black Le***an Network.
Pride House Houston Watch Party with Space City Pride FC: USA vs Australia, 2PM kickoff at Frost Town Brewing (1719 Ruiz St). Come watch with us!

Saturday, June 20
Kara and Tara Dion's Pride Drag Brunch, 11AM at El Tiempo (322 Westheimer Rd). A portion of tips raised will benefit the Montrose Center.
Q***r Prom (21+), 9PM at Pearl Bar (2811 Washington Ave). Get dressed up and dance the night away!

Sunday, June 21
Community Yoga with Juju, 9:30 to 10:30 AM at the Center (401 Branard St, Room 107). A free, affirming class for all bodies and identities. No sign-up needed, just bring your mat and water.

Swipe through for the Pride events we'll be at across Houston and everything going on here at the Center. See even more in our Pride guide! (https://montrosecenter.org/2026-montrose-center-lgbtq-pride-guide/)

And all month long, some of our favorite local spots are giving back too. Show some love to Balloon Kings of Houston, Meow Wolf, Michael's Cookie Jar, and Sweets by Belén, and they're giving that love right back to the Center.

However you show up this June, we've got you. Happy Pride 🏳️‍🌈

Balloon Kings of Houston: https://balloon-kings.com

Meow Wolf: https://meowwolf.com

Michael's Cookie Jar: https://www.michaelscookiejar.com

Sweets by Belén: https://www.sweetsbybelenboutique.com/pride

From Brazoria County Pride to the Houston Public Library, from craft nights to bingo with our seniors, Pride this year has taken us all across Houston and right back home. 🌈

These moments remind us that Pride is about more than a parade. It's about showing up in every corner of our community, connecting with folks where they are, and building something that lasts all year long.

We are also proud to share that the Montrose Center was named Nonprofit Member of the Year at the 2026 Pride in Business event hosted by the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce. This is a reflection of the work our staff, volunteers, and donors make possible every day.

A special thank you to Chevron for partnering with us for Pride Month Bingo and Social at Law Harrington Senior Living Center, and to every volunteer, staff member, and community partner who made these moments possible. 💗

Check out our Pride guide for everything still happening this month: https://montrosecenter.org/prideguide

GOOOOOAL! 🇺🇸⚽

USA 4, Paraguay 1. The perfect way to kick off Pride House Houston. The Montrose Center and Space City Pride FC have partnered to bring Pride House Houston to life this summer, a dedicated welcoming space where LGBTQ+ fans and allies can come together and celebrate the beautiful game.

Thank you to everyone who came out to Frost Town Brewing and celebrated with us. Next up: Mexico vs South Korea, June 18 at 8PM at Los Robles. Come watch with us! 🏳️‍🌈

Thank you Space City Pride FC and Frost Town Brewing! 💗

Because of the weather today, the Montrose Center and Law Harrington Senior Living Center will open later than usual, at 11:00 AM.

Our Declutter With Me session is also postponed for now.

Stay safe out there!

Double the queens. Double the glamour. Double the reason to get your tickets now. 👑👑

Manila Luzon and Trinity the Tuck are taking over the Marriott Marquis Houston for Out for Good 2026, Houston's premier annual LGBTQ+ gala celebrating the spirit of National Coming Out Day.

Join 750 LGBTQ+ leaders, community members, and allies for a night of dinner, inspiration, and great company. And this year's theme? Wild & Untamed. Think animal print, feathers, faux fur, and statement textures. Come bold or come classic, just come ready. 🐆🖤

Saturday, October 3 at 7PM at the Marriott Marquis Houston. After-party to follow.

RSVP Here: https://onecau.se/outforgood2026

Join us this Wednesday for our Wellness Wednesday: Declutter With Me workshop with AARP! We will help you learn the basics of decluttering and get your space in order. June 17 from 6-8PM at 401 Branard St, Room 107.
Register here: https://montrosecenter.org/event/wellness-wednesday-decluttering-workshop-with-aarp/

On June 17, join us for our LGBTQ+ Health Series: Intergenerational Trauma. We will cover the basics of intergenerational trauma, how it impacts physical and mental wellbeing, how it affects the LGBTQ+ community, and how to break the cycle and thrive. June 17 at 6PM via Zoom.
Join here: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/83416187461?pwd=qRgosf7k9qcdaqUqnlu83VflyAgNEB.1

Swipe through for the Pride events we'll be at across Houston and everything going on here at the Center. See even more in our Pride guide: https://montrosecenter.org/2026-montrose-center-lgbtq-pride-guide/

And all month long, some of our favorite local spots are giving back too. Show some love to Balloon Kings of Houston, Meow Wolf, Michael's Cookie Jar, and Sweets by Belén, and they're giving that love right back to the Center.

On June 20 at 11AM, join Kara and Tara Dion's Pride Drag Brunch at El Tiempo, 322 Westheimer Rd! A portion of tips raised will benefit the Montrose Center.

However you show up this June, we've got you. Happy Pride 🏳️‍🌈

Balloon Kings of Houston: https://balloon-kings.com
Meow Wolf: https://meowwolf.com
Michael's Cookie Jar: https://www.michaelscookiejar.com
Sweets by Belén: https://www.sweetsbybelenboutique.com/pride

This Pride Month, you deserve to feel safe, seen, and free to heal at your own pace.

For LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence, family violence, sexual assault, hate crimes, and human trafficking, we want you to know you are not alone. We have folks who understand, and we offer counseling, advocacy, and a space where you can talk without fear of judgment as you find your way forward.

Pride sees the whole journey, not just the celebration 🌈

📞 (713) 529-0037

On Sunday, June 7, 550 guests gathered at Puttery for the Montrose Center's sold-out Pride Brunch. Together, we raised more than $120,000 for Houston's LGBTQ+ center. 🏳️‍🌈

Proceeds fund LGBTQ+ affirming youth and senior support, behavioral health care, gender-affirming services, HIV support, and so much more. Donations were made in memory of host Robert Wallace's uncle, Mike Ralph, who passed away in 1991 during the height of the AIDS epidemic.

Thank you to our host committee, sponsors, DJ Chad Guidry, Rachel Bface, and the incomparable Silky Nutmeg Ganache for making this a day to remember. And thank you to every guest who showed up and gave so generously.

Missed the brunch but still want to support? Donate here: https://montrosecenter.org/donate/

Want to see more? View photo gallery at: https://montrosecenter.org/community-center/blog/120k-raised-550-guests-inside-june-7s-record-breaking-pride-brunch/

From our CEO, Avery Belyeu:

Some thoughts I've been carrying this Pride.

I opened my Facebook this morning, cup of coffee in hand. Another trans friend has left the country. This time the destination is New Zealand. I pause and think of my running note of where each friend has gone, stored in some crevice of my mind and only visited in moments like this: Toronto, Vancouver, Sweden, Spain, Mexico, and then domestically—Seattle, Chicago, New York. Am I missing anyone, I wonder?

Then my mind turns to all my friends who I know feel the weight every day but have nowhere to go… that list is far longer. That list. That's the one that keeps me here. It's the reason I stay.

It's the second week of Pride 2026. And perhaps more than almost any other Pride Month since I first carried a rainbow flag held high over my head almost twenty years ago, this Pride feels full of contrasts. Some of them so sharp that they almost sting as they rub up against each other. Sting, or maybe shine. Which is it? I can't tell.

Last week—at the very start of June—Houston rallied and cared for a grieving family. Persia Amarra Conway was 33 years old when she was murdered and her body was discarded, naked, beside Brays Bayou. Her dignity was assaulted. Then came HPD with their first interview. No identification. No suspect. But yes, “she's transgender, and prostitution was involved.” Her dignity stripped yet again.

So we rallied. We cared. We tended. A vigil. A press conference. A meeting with elected officials.

For many, tears not just for this life lost and devalued by others, but for the murder of so many. So many for whom justice has never been seen. So many names, so many names right here in Houston.

I sat in a room on the Center's first floor, Persia's family speaking with the media and sharing their grief. Their love for her shining through with every carefully chosen word.

And then, on the other side of a wall, in the room next door, sounds. Voices. Practicing of some sort. I wonder, then I remember. A class for trans women working to feminize their voice. New life being practiced. New life being born.

Contrasts so stark they almost sting. A life lost. Grieving. New life being discovered and built. Joy, strength, and confidence.

But then I see something shine. A ribbon of light connecting these two moments together. What these seemingly discordant moments have in common—community. Community care.

Community rallying to care for Persia's family: food, hugs, and words of comfort; presence at a vigil.

And community in the day to day. A gay man—a speech therapist—volunteering his skill, sharing with trans women on their journey. Sharing to help someone on their way. Community caring for community.

A thin wall separating this press conference about a life lost and new life on its way. But community on both sides, in different ways offering the same loving truth. We aren't alone. You aren't alone. We are each other's keepers. We've got this. Together.

Maybe that is the truth of Pride, with its many different expressions. Sometimes joy. Other times rage, grief, protest. Sometimes a dance floor; other times, a vigil. But always—together. In community. Stonewall keeps reverberating down to 2026, not because of one or two trans leaders, but because those trans women led an entire community in action across many days. They weren't angry or tired or sad alone; they were joined by hundreds. They were together. And that's why we have Pride. We have pride because Stonewall was a moment where we found our strength, the strength we have when we don't carry the hard things alone, but we link arms and carry it together—and choose to act together—to make a change.

Today, in another moment of seeming contrast, we mark the 10th anniversary of the Pulse Night Club Massacre. Lives lost on a dance floor during a Pride Month 10 years ago. Senseless violence. Forty-nine beautiful lives lost. And tonight, we will get together and we will dance. We'll honor and remember. We will weave together the grief and the loss with the joy. And maybe, just maybe, as we look up at the disco ball above us shining its light in all directions, we will see a ribbon of rainbow light. The ribbon that connects it all together and makes it all make sense. Each other. Together when we need to grieve. Together when we feel nothing but joy. Together when it's time to fight. Together—across every letter of diverse community.

Pride in 2026 is something that I will carry with me for a long time. Because right here, in the middle of one of the most difficult administrations our community has ever had to navigate, this Pride is holding so much. Some days it feels heavy. And that's OK. And when it feels heavy, like it's all going to be too much, I'll just think about a symbol of our movement for freedom, a rainbow. That ribbon of light that can only shine through when the rain clouds do their best. And I'll remember that through it all—we are going to be OK somehow, as long as we don't forget the real reason we make Pride Month together each year: to remember that catalyzing moment in 1969 when trans women linked arms with gay men and le****ns, homeless youth with gay professionals, Black and Brown leaders with white q***r activists, and they all fought back—together—and won.

Happy Pride.

(Photos by Nora Dayton and Raul Chaidez)