The loss of Waco’s leading LGBTQ+ organization has left smaller groups struggling with the question of how they will fill that gap.
The nonprofit Waco Pride Network announced Friday it would disband in coming weeks because of a lack of volunteer capacity. For nearly a decade, the organization has hosted Out on The Brazos and monthly meetups that provided support and community.
“Operating as a 100% volunteer-led organization meant that staffing and organizational capacity were ongoing obstacles,” Waco Pride Network said in a statement Friday. “In recent years, those challenges were compounded by increasing pressure from both internal organizational demands and external groups that opposed our mission and values.”
Organizers said they would distribute remaining funds to other organizations that align with their values. Other LGBTQ+ advocates told the Bridge this week that various groups were in discussion about how to move forward but Waco Pride Network would be difficult to replace.
The Rev. Charley Garrison, a pastor and longtime supporter of the network, voiced hope that new efforts will take shape in the community.
“We need to stay united and keep fighting the fight,” said Garrison, who has been a pastor at the LGBTQ+-affirming Central Texas Metropolitan Community Church since 1999. “And things will turn around, things will change because all of these people that support the Waco Pride Network, they're still there. They're still there. And they’ll rise up again whenever the group rises up again.”
Garrison said he witnessed four or five pride parades and festivals in Waco in the years after he arrived here in 1999, but the tradition stopped in the mid-2000s, after organizers got tired and stressed.
The first official Out on the Brazos event started in 2017, and organizers got official tax-exempt nonprofit status as Waco Pride Network the following year.
The October festival formerly was held at Brazos Park East but moved last year to Indian Spring Park, where free tickets were required for admission in an attempt to deter anti-LGBTQ+ protesters. However, the protests occurred anyway, leaving organizers to apologize afterward on social media.
Planning for this year’s event was already underway when the board decided it could not go forward.
A Waco Pride Network board member said the volunteer board that once had 10 to 15 members dwindled and could no longer function.
Big shoes to fill
Other LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Waco Trans Group, Waco Youth Pride Alliance and the RSI Court of the Central Texas Empire, told the Bridge they will continue to serve the community.
“I don't want people to panic when they see that Waco Pride Network is no more because we are here and we will still be meeting every third Saturday,” said Christy Sykora Jaynes, leader of the Waco Youth Pride Alliance, a group under the Waco Pride Network which serves middle and high school students.
Jaynes, who has headed the group since 2023, said it has been a valuable resource since her child came out.
“For my family, it has created a whole new community,” Jaynes said. “We spend holidays and weekends with the connections that we've made through the parent group.”
The RSI Court of the Texas Empire, which spans Temple, Killeen and Waco, puts on monthly entertainment events to raise money for other organizations. The nonprofit organization at one point considered closing due to declining membership and a lack of venues but has seen membership increase and plans to continue operating.
The announcement of the disbandment of Waco Pride Network led to more interest in the organization, said RSI board president Christopher Benfer.
RSI operates on a monarch system. Every year the organization votes on two elected monarchs. The monarchs select two to three benefactors. In the past, it has focused on Planned Parenthood, Meals on Wheels and the Relay for Life from the American Cancer Society.
But as LGBTQ+ community spaces and organizations such as gay bars have closed down, Benfer said it has become more difficult to find venues for its events.
The group has recently held events at the Metropolitan Community Church.
Although RSI has been around for 30 years, many people do not know it exists. More people were involved during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Benfer said.
“There was more of a need out there in the community,” he said. “There were also more organizations and stuff for us to raise money for.”
The McLennan County AIDS HIV Resources and Education Services previously served those with HIV and AIDS in the county but has folded in the last few years. The Red Door Pantry, a ministry at Metropolitan Community Church, continues to serve this community.
Spaces of inclusion
University Baptist Church, 1701 Dutton Ave., has also supported the LGBTQ+ community by offering space to the Waco Pride Network for prom and to an LGBTQ+-affirming Alcoholics Anonymous group. The church building is still available for LGBTQ+ events.
UBC’s Lead Pastor Rev. Andie Pellicer said her work is driven by advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community, which increasingly faces “vitriol” from politicians.
“We're so obsessed with purity culture in Waco, but we're not concerned with caring for the poor,” Pellicer said. “It's insane to me to see people given more and more and more platforms who use that platform to define followers of Jesus in one very narrow way, and I think that that just means queer people have a harder time finding spaces where they can be loved and affirmed. There's a lot of shame. That shame turns to mental illness, turns to suicidality.”
Now that Waco Pride Network is ending, Pellicer hopes to see collaboration among groups and more inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community.
For eight years, the Waco Trans Group has been providing a safe space for the transgender community through meeting twice a month and providing a local support group.
Group members were shocked to learn the Waco Pride Network was dissolving, said a representative who asked to remain anonymous for fear of harm or harassment.
Those fears have led meeting attendance to decline in recent years from 38 to four, the Waco Trans Group representative said.
“They're now even feeling more that way because it was comforting knowing that you had somebody – an organization like that – to be able to back you,” the representative said of Waco Pride Network’s demise. “We're nowhere near their level … and we can't promise to be able to continue on some of their stuff.”
The group plans to meet with a former Waco Pride Network board member to discuss potentially taking over some of its events. The group, which has three social media administrators, recognizes it can’t take on as much as Waco Pride Network did but it hopes it can help in some way.
“I don't think any of us will be able to even do half of the amount that they're going to be able to do, which is going to take away from so much of the community that was thriving from what Waco Pride Network provided,” the representative said.
This article first appeared on The Waco Bridge. The Waco Bridge is an independent, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to empowering Wacoans with high-quality local news and information that connects communities and fosters public engagement.
