Unleashed founder Wesley Smoot
Conference/festival will be held in the heart of the Gayborhood
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The Unleashed LGBTQ+ Conference/Festival returns Oct. 4-6, and this time the event is set in Oak Lawn, at the heart of the Dallas Gayborhood, organizers have announced.
Gabe Gentry, Unleashed’s director of operations, said holding the conference on the Cedar Springs Strip was a natural choice.
“We originally wanted to host our events on The Strip last year, but with time constraints and conflicts of schedule, it did not work out,” Gentry said. “Our best option was Gilley’s. It served us well, but we are glad to bring Unleashed 2024 to the Dallas LGBTQ+ neighborhood.”
The conference will be held at The Round-Up Saloon, 3912 Cedar Springs Road, with additional events happening at bars, shops and other locations in the surrounding area.
The three-day conference will feature speakers, panels and performances from a variety of well-known names in LGBTQ film, television, music, business and tech, organizers said. Last year’s featured speakers included Billy Eichner, Indya Moore, Antoni Porowski, Daniel Franzese and Nico Tortorella. Businesses and organizations represented at the event included Meta, Adobe, HRC, Black Tie Dinner, Dallas Voice, OUT North Texas, The Advocate and iHeart Media.
This year though, organizers said they are putting more focus on Dallas and Texas LGBTQ trailblazers.
Wesley Smoot, founder and chief programming officer, said, “With so many amazing queer pioneers in our own area, it makes sense to produce this year’s events around those who make us even prouder to be LGBTQ+ in Texas.
“We are still bringing in panelists and performers from outside the Lone Star State — like The Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black and comedian Daniel Webb — but even they, while based in Los Angeles now, have Texas roots.
Other featured panelists and speakers include the Rev. Neil Thomas, senior pastor of Cathedral of Hope UCC; Brooke Henderson and Shannon Mitchell-Percell of Legacy Cares; Melodia Gutiérrez with HRC; Shelly Skeen with Lambda Legal; Dr. Steven Pounders; Dallas Voice publisher Leo Cusimano, and Leslie Magazine founder and publisher Michael Hendrix.
Former Disney executive Jim Fielding with talk about being openly gay in a corporate leadership role before it was more accepted, and singer Ashlee Keating with participate in a live interview followed by a live performance.
Melissa Grove, former executive director of what is now Legacy Cares — formerly Legacy Counseling — will be presented with The Unleashed LGBTQ+ Lifetime Achievement Award.
More featured participants will be announced in the coming weeks, along with book signings, photo ops and surprise celebrity appearances, organizers said. Tickets are on sale now at Unleashed LGBTQ.com.