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Pride Houston Announces 2021 Grand Marshals

Honorary and trendsetter awards were also announced.

Pride Houston’s 2021 Grand Marshals (l-r): Female-Identifying Melanie Toarmina Pang, Male-Identifying Jacques Bourgeois, Gender Non-Binary/Nonconforming Kevin Nguyen, and Ally Abbie Kamin.

Pride Houston revealed the grand marshals for this year’s LGBTQ celebration during a virtual announcement on June 18. 

Executive director Lo Roberts and vice president Kendra Walker led the announcement, which also featured last year’s grand-marshal winners. After the organization’s 2020 festival and parade were canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions, Pride Houston leaders wanted the 2020 grand marshals to be honored alongside the 2021 marshals.

Being named a Pride Houston grand marshal is among the highest honors bestowed by the local LGBTQ community, according to the group’s website. Individuals and organizations nominated for grand marshal have made significant contributions to the community at large through their activist or charity work.

The Pride Houston grand marshals are listed here, along with their categories: 

Female Identifying
2020: Tommi Ross, pioneering drag artist
2021: Melanie Toarmina Pang, LGBTQ activist and Houston Lesbian & Gay Community Center scholarship recipient 

Male Identifying
2020: Austin Dexter Williams, LGBTQ community organizer
2021: Jacques Bourgeois, co-founder of Houston Gaymers and an advocate for Houston’s Black queer community

Gender Non-Binary/Nonconforming
2020: Kelsey Reynolds, social worker and LGBTQ advocate
2021: Kevin Nguyen, volunteer and member of Mayor Sylvester Turner’s LGBTQ Advisory Board

Ally 
2020: Lillie Schechter, outgoing chair for Harris County Democrats
2021: Abbie Kamin, Houston City Council member for District C

Honorary (voted on by Pride Houston’s advisory committee)
2020: Nikki Araguz Loyd (posthumous honor)
2021: Vickey Gibbs (posthumous honor), John Kellet (posthumous honor), Larry Bagneris, and Black Lives Matter Houston

Trendsetter (voted on by Pride Houston’s advisory committee)
2020: Landon Richie, 18-year-old transgender advocate 
2021: Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, local LGBTQ-affirming school

These grand-marshal individuals and organizations will also be honored with a City of Houston proclamation, and they will be recognized at several Pride Houston celebration events, including the upcoming downtown parade. 

A date and schedule of events for Pride Houston’s 2021 festival and parade will be announced at Pearl Bar on July 25.

OutSmart will continue to update its website with the latest Pride Houston news. You can also keep up with Pride Houston at pridehouston.org.

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