For some humbugs, today is simply the day to avoid another annual shutdown of the intersection at Montrose and Westheimer. But for about 200,000 people every year, its the most fabulous street closing in the city. For more than 30 years, Pride Houston has organized the annual festival and parade celebrating Houstons GLBT community. According to Pride Houstons Web site, the celebration is attended by 150,000 people every year from all over the world. It commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots in New Yorks Greenwich Village.
This is the second year in a row that the parade has had an official celebrity grand marshal. Last year it was Bravo TVs executive vice president of programming Andy Cohen, known as the referee in those Real Housewives reunions. This years celeb is Jonathan Lovitz, one of the match-makers on LOGO TVs reality series Setup Squad (were sensing a reality-TV pattern. Next year, Tim Gunn?). Last year Lovitz famously refused to stand jury duty, saying he couldnt be an impartial judge of others while being considered a second-class citizen under the law (hes also considered sexy).
The festival runs 1 to 7 p.m. in the Montrose area. The parade runs 8:15 to 11 p.m. on Westheimer, starting at Dunlavy and ending at Crocker. For information, visit pridehouston.org/events.
Sat., June 25, 1-11 p.m., 2011
This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2011.