Rainbow flags, music, food, prizes and drag queens were all part of the third annual PRIDEfest at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) on April 17 in the Ben Bailey Art Gallery.
This year’s PRIDEfest was a fun-filled event.
During the three-and-a-half-hour event, attendees got to listen to guest speakers, dance to the mixes of DJ Brainwash, meet and talk to new people and friends, see performances from the #HauseDeLoca Drag Queens and win prizes.
To kick off the event, students and community members gathered at the pavilion outside of the Memorial Student Union Building and were given rainbow face paintings, flags and other LGBTQ+ paraphernalia.
From there, the crowd, led by members of the TAMUK drumline, marched to the Ben Bailey Art Gallery.
The first guest speaker of the night was TAMUK alumnus Bailey Killian. As someone who is part of the transgender community, Killian spoke on his journey to becoming comfortable with his true self.
Killian was also one of the founding members of Unity as he helped make the organization an official club on campus.
Killian was proud to see the amount of people who showed up to the event.
“When we started Unity, we weren’t doing it really for the community. That’s what you say because it’s good to put in words, but it was really more for us. For us to have a place to be. And, we weren’t thinking about the long-term effects of that, and to see the long-term effects be so much more than we could have imagined, that can’t help but trigger an emotion of pride in all of y’all and your willingness to be here,” Killian said.
Will Stridde was another guest speaker.
Stridde hosted an interactive lecture during which people could ask him about any parts of LGBTQ+ history about which they were curious.
Students Pedro Andrade and Aaron Martinez are a couple that attended the event. They believe participating in events such as PRIDEfest is important because it shows their support in their community.
“As a gay couple, I feel like we should be involved in what’s going on with our community and just to support one another and be here for each other because that’s what we need right now. The moments we’re living right now, not a lot of people are accepting so it’s good to just be yourself in a group of people that are themselves,” Andrade said.
Many people who attended the event were excited to see the San Antonio drag queens #HauseDeLoca.
The group consisted of four drag queens who entertained the crowd with their funny commentary, fierce attitudes and impressive dance moves. The drag performance was Disney-themed and had students clapping and cheering along. PRIDEfest is an event hosted by the TAMUK student organization Unity.
Unity Secretary Alberto Oliveira helped organized the event and was proud of how the event turned out.
“Seeing the overall crowd for this year’s PRIDEfest definitely made me feel proud to know that we did it. To see the support of TAMUK LGBTQ+ students, allies, faculty and proud parents was a heartwarming moment,” Oliveira said.
