Montrose

Massive place.

You know, he was running a bar in very vibrant Montrose area of Houston.

Um, it's sort of like the gay neighborhood of Houston and still very, uh, you know, well-known and famous for just how, you know, beautiful and accepting and liberal and rainbows on the sidewalks.

It's a very unique and special place in Houston.

Thank you.

Well, today I wanted to talk with you about the banners or the flags that you held place in the Montrose District along Westheimer.

Can you tell me about them a little bit?

Sure.

Yeah.

The Rainbow Crosswalk was...

A person behind that was a guy named Matt Woiler, who used to work for the city and now is the chair of the Montrose Tours.

And a friend of his got murdered at that intersection.

Governor Abbott, meanwhile, has received endorsements from several law enforcement organizations, including the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas and the Texas Municipal Police Association, as well as the Houston Police Officers Union and the Austin Police Association.

Nearly a year after Houston removed the area's rainbow crosswalk in order to comply with a directive from Governor Greg Abbott, LGBT banners are now lining Westheimer Road in Houston's Montrose neighborhood.

The Houston banners feature the Intersex Inclusive Progress Pride flag.

Apparently, that's now a thing for the pervert crowd.

If the truth were known, one-third of the gays are not known in the city of Houston simply because they live a very quiet and private life.

Years before branded floats and the confetti, when just showing up could get you arrested, the LGBTQ plus community in Houston, Texas protested in Montrose, which is what they call the gayborhood in this big city.

Police raided gay bars for sport.

You walk through the wrong door and your name showed up in the paper the next day.

Houston fought back anyway.

Protests turned into activism.

Activism turned into the Montrose Center, which started as a two-room office that grew into the heartbeat hub of the rainbow community.

And in 2009, this city made history.

This article is being read by an automated voice generated by Everlit.

In today's briefing, Pride banners returned to Montrose after Houston removed rainbow crosswalks A new Lake Houston agency aims to reduce flooding by dredging sediment, and Houston's new garbage fee may bring in less money than expected.

But first, the weather.

Good morning, I'm Justin Ballard, the Houston Chronicle's meteorologist, and here's today's forecast.

The rest of today's briefing is read by an AI voice, but every story in the 713 Commute Mode is written and edited by our human journalists.

Now, the news.

Rainbows have returned to Montrose, but this time they are above Westheimer Road instead of painted on it.

Houston has installed 10 pride banners on light poles from Taft Street to Montrose Boulevard.

No.

This was something we were renting in Montrose.

Oh, it was...

Oh, you didn't do it?

That might be in the Cypress area or Conroe.

We're not sure.

It might not be in Montrose.

We don't know where it's gonna go.

But I do remember a very specific time in my life in high school where my mom introduced me into Rocky Horror.

Because my mom, you know, we grew up in Houston and mom actually would hang out a lot on Montrose, which is an area of Houston, which is very lively, definitely back in the 80s.

It's sort of a sort of the gay community, sort of progressive

community.

Still is, which I still love.

I still love Montrose to this day.

um but i remember my mom and my dad both talking to me about uh going and seeing like uh uh rocky horror shows at night at midnight and how much fun it was every single night um and i wish i could have could have saw that stuff back in the you know the mid uh to late 80s um and be part of that sort of see that that part of progressive and uh and and I just wish I could have been there for it because it's so fun.

And when you see like, you know, a lucky horror, like Tim Curry, um, For most people back in the day, it's the first thing they ever saw him in.

Born and raised in the Heights.

I've also lived in Montrose and River Oaks.

You lived in Montrose.

I went to high school in Montrose.

I went to HSPVA.

Did you go to? In the Heights.