Hundreds of community members representing 27+ LGBTQ+ organizations across Greater Houston gathered at The Montrose Center this past weekend for the 2026 Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Community Summit. As a board member of both Katy Pride and Trans Voices who just moved to Houston a year ago, this was my first Summit.
It was exciting to see community leaders come together with such intentionality and a shared emphasis on intersectionality, accessibility, and language justice, and maybe most importantly a commitment to immediately improving those areas in response to real community feedback. During the Summit, multiple community members voiced when they encountered accessibility limitations or problematic language, and their feedback was acknowledged and changes promised or made in real time.
I and other attendees felt that more scheduled downtime would have helped us feel less tired during the Summit. However, the highly intentional way it was planned, community leaders being given the opportunity to provide feedback that was incorporated into Greater Houston's Queer Agenda, and being given other opportunities to share our voices, made me feel more hopeful for the future despite the political climate in the US and Texas. I also got the opportunity to network with lots of people in the community and simply chat with friends, while enjoying free food and coffee!
The Launch of the Houston Queer Agenda
Day 1 opened with a soothing musical performance and a grounding exercise. (Unfortunately, I forgot to record the name of the singer in my notes and couldn't find it online, but they had a beautiful falsetto).
During the morning plenary, organizers presented the Queer Agenda's first draft and invited suggestions for revision via paper or a QR-accessible Google Form. That night, they spent over four hours "holed up in a room" reviewing the feedback and revising the draft.
Day 2's revised Agenda reading began at 3 pm. Dozens of people of different identities and backgrounds lined up to read statements at the podium.
Community organizations including Trans Voices and Katy Pride, as well as politicians such as Summit sponsor Mayor John Whitmire's administration and Davis M. Darusman, Justice of the Peace candidate, endorsed the Queer Agenda on the spot.
The Houston Queer Agenda acknowledges its limits:
"We recognize that no single document can hold all that our community is and needs."
But it also declares unity:
"At this time, when our community is being steamrolled, scapegoated, threatened, and violently attacked by extraordinarily organized and well-funded interests often wielding the levers of government, we must speak with one voice."
Hearing the Agenda read by so many voices made our collective power feel more tangible.
Serving Language Justice
The Queer Agenda lists "Language and Information Justice: Prioritize language justice (multilingual access) as a queer issue."
At the Summit, Spanish and ASL interpretation was offered at designated sessions with clear communication about which panels included translation. This pragmatic approach acknowledged resource constraints while committing to meaningful multilingual access.
An attendee noted Spanish speaker attendance was lower on Day 2—many people don't know or expect language accessibility at events. This points to a structural challenge: accessibility must not simply be provided, but also be publicized to be effective.
Why This Summit Matters Now
The Summit's timing reflects strategic necessity. Transgender Texans face relentless attacks from the Texas government: Governor Abbott's directives targeting Trans youth and families, bills like SB12 criminalizing drag performances and erasing queer visibility, constant threats to deny healthcare and exclude us from public life.
This legislative environment creates what organizers framed as an existential threat requiring coordinated response. According to Courtney Sellers from Montrose Grace Place:
"Transgender community members' existence is being attacked constantly. The LGBTQ+ community in the Houston area needs a space for us to come together, demand our entire community's rights, learn how to protect ourselves and offer support, share resources, and take space for joy. We refuse to be erased."
The Houston Queer Agenda asserts:
"Every demand herein points back to a central axiom: We exist. We have a right to exist. We have a right to a life of dignity in that existence."
The 4 Principles
The Agenda is built upon four core principles:
Intersectionality & Equity
Naming and dismantling Anti-Blackness and racism is not separate from queer liberation; it is central to it.
The Right to Existence
We exist, and we have a right to a life of dignity.
Urgency
While some goals are long-term, many can and must be implemented immediately.
We Have Power
The very existence of this summit points to the Houston LGBTQIA+ community’s unique capacity to move together, and we affirm that when we do, we are resilient and powerful. We got us.
The 5 Pillars
The Agenda organizes its demands around five pillars that function as social determinants of health—the non-medical conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, play, worship, learn, and age.
Education
The Agenda envisions "liberation through education both inside and outside the traditional educational system." It demands LGBTQIA+ history be taught as essential to American and world history, calls to dismantle censorship of LGBTQ+ literature, and ensures the right to exist fully in schools—including chosen names, pronouns, and equal access to restrooms.
Healthcare
The vision is "a stigma-free identity-affirming healthcare landscape that treats the person and provides affirming care from birth through elderhood."
The Agenda connects reproductive justice to queer liberation: "Reproductive justice, bodily autonomy, and LGBTQIA+ liberation are inextricably linked. The public health crises impacting Black women and people who give birth must be addressed."
Gender-affirming care is defined broadly to include "mental health, primary care, and wellness specialists, in addition to medical transition." For elders, it demands care "free from the threat of harm or 're-closeting.'"
Economic Empowerment
The Agenda envisions "a regional economy where LGBTQIA+ people don't just survive but have the resources to thrive and lead."
It calls for municipal funds for LGBTQ+ small business loans and demands corporate accountability. The vision extends beyond traditional capitalism to "organize alternative economic models, such as mutual aid, community wealth-building, and cooperatives."
The Agenda also asserts that Sex Work is work: "Sex work deserves safety, dignity, legal protection, and opportunities for organizing."
Neighborhood and Built Environment
The vision is "a city and region where our physical spaces reflect our history and accommodate our specific needs."
This means preserving Montrose's historic LGBTQ+ identity, combating gerrymandering for fair political representation, and addressing climate change: "Climate resilience, responsive infrastructure and sustainable energy policy is a LGBTQIA+ issue."
Social and Community Context
The Agenda demands cultural recognition and justice system reform—from establishing a dedicated LGBTQ+ art and history center to providing "explicit protections and resources for LGBTQIA+ immigrants regardless of status."
On policing, it calls for "equitable, fair, and equal bias-free policing practices" and to "expand community-based safety alternatives."
Intersectionality as Foundation
The agenda's first foundational principle states: "Naming and dismantling Anti-Blackness and racism is essential to this work and is not separate from queer liberation; it is central to it."
This reflected growth. According to Summit organizer and Black Trans woman Joëlle Bayaa-Uzuri Espeut, last year's Summit faced criticism for lacking queer Black women. This year, organizers responded to that criticism and held a panel called "Where Are the Black Queer Women: A Conversation on Representation".
Read the full Queer Agenda at bit.ly/htx-queer-agenda
The Data We Need
The Houston Area L.O.V.E. Survey provides an empirical foundation for the Queer Agenda, with its sections intentionally aligned to the agenda’s 5 key pillars.
Without comprehensive, community-driven data, policy decisions affecting LGBTQ+ Houstonians are often based on assumptions, stereotypes, or incomplete information. The L.O.V.E. Survey (short for LGBTQ+ Opinions, Voices & Experiences) is the first community-wide effort to capture LGBTQ+ life in Greater Houston.
This groundbreaking project is a collaboration between the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, The Montrose Center, and the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, with support from over two dozen local organizations.
Community members identified some critical gaps when giving feedback on the survey. Gia Pacheco, Executive Director of Trans Woman Liberation, noted the LOVE survey landing page was initially English-only. Avery Belyeu, CEO of the Montrose Center, promised immediate correction.
Koomah, Co-Founder of The Houston Intersex Society, raised another critique: the survey's sex-assigned-at-birth options only included male and female, erasing Intersex experiences.
These moments illustrate that language justice and intersectional design are ongoing processes.
Take the Survey
When we advocate for our community, we need the full picture of its needs. Whether you live in Fort Bend, Harris, Montgomery, Galveston, or anywhere in Greater Houston, your 15 minutes helps.
Take the Houston Area L.O.V.E. Survey here!