Texas Latino Pride returns Sept. 25 with celebration at Reverchon Park
Tammye Nash | Managing Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com
Texas Latino Pride is back, bringing a “celebration of life, culture and dance” to Reverchon Park on Saturday, Sept. 25, from 3-9 p.m., according to Mariano Pintor, director of public relations for the Texas Latino Pride Foundation.
The eighth annual music festival is intended to “uplift attendees through music and connect the broad range of people who make up the LGBTQIA community,” Pintor said in a press release. “The organization is honored to partner with small businesses and food vendors that span numerous cultures, ethnicities, sexual orientation, and gender identity/expressions.”
Juan Contreras, president and co-founder of Texas Latino Pride, said, “This year, more than ever, our focus has been around the well-being of the community.”
He noted that TLP has partnered with the city of Dallas to provide COVID testing on site during the event, which is being held outside to allow plenty of room for social distancing. Organizers have also partner with Methodist Dallas, which will provide hand sanitizers for attendees, and with Prism Health North Texas, which will “provide HIV and STI testing and will have someone on hand to talk about mental health services and how can we come back from the COVID pandemic in a way that’s safe and progressive,” Pintor added.
Musical performances are an integral part of Texas Latino Pride
Texas Latino Pride was founded in 2014, and, initially, was held in September to coordinate with the larger Dallas Pride celebrations — the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade and the Festival in the Park — that were, at the time, held on the weekend of the third Sunday in September. Dallas Pride has since moved to the first weekend in June at Fair Park, but, Pintor said, “we chose to keep our event in September to keep Pride in this traditional time frame in Dallas.”
TLP also wants to give LGBTQ Latinx people a chance to celebrate not only their LGBTQ Pride but their Latinx culture as well. “It is important to us that we preserve our culture through music and celebration,” Pintor said. “In the Latinx community we are aware of the shame [LGBTQ Latinx people deal with] that comes from religion and the machismo that is part of the culture. It is hard to celebrate yourself authentically when you are surrounded by those societal and cultural pressures. And sometimes, you just want to listen to some norteno [music] like you would hear at a quinceanera.”
Being LGBTQ and Latinx, Pintor said, “You straddle two worlds. You have to be one person in this [Latinx] world and another person in that [LGBTQ] world. Texas Latino Pride allows us to bring both sides of ourselves together. It gives us a sense of unity we might not find anywhere else.”
He also noted that while the “official” name of the event is Texas Latino Pride, “we often use Latinx in promotional materials and in talking about the event, because for some people, ‘Latino’ means it is just for men, and it is not. It is for men, women and non-binary people. Everyone is welcome.”
And when he says “everyone,” he means “EVERYONE.”
“It is important to remember that ‘Latino’ or ‘Latinx’ doesn’t just mean those with Mexican heritage or backgrounds. It means Columbians, Puerto Ricans, people from Brazil and Cuba — we need to celebrate all of that, all of us. We are all different cultures, and we all have our own cultural traditions. That is the real beauty of this event.”
This year’s celebration reflects the diversity of the community through the diversity of the entertainment scheduled, Pintor continued. That includes live acts like headliner Monica Saldivar who was the Best New Female Artist at the 2020 Tejano Music Awards, Mexican actress, single and model Lorena Herrera the reigning 2021 Miss Continental Juliana Rivera, “a proud Colombian,” he said.
There will also be plenty of local talent, too. Miss Round-Up Mayra D’Lorenzo will host, and popular local DJs will be playing music ranging from salsa to reggaeton to hip-hop and cumbia between live performances.
But, Pintor stressed, this event isn’t just for people of Latinx heritages. “Our board is all inclusive,” he said, “and that tells you something about our approach being very inclusive. We welcome all communities. We want everyone to come to see what we are about. Come enjoy our food; enjoy our music. We want to bring people together.”
Contreras added, “That we are expecting nearly 3,000 attendees tells us that people from a variety of backgrounds are eager to embrace and celebrate our cultures.”
Texas Latino Pride Festival is Saturday, Sept. 25, from 3-9 p.m. at Reverchon Park. General admission is free; VIP tickets can be purchased online at TexasLatinoPride.org for $60 and include catered food and signature beverages.
