Īfter a three-year transition period of being known as the Stonewall Chamber of Commerce, the Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (AGLCC) was founded in 1997. OutYouth was founded in Austin, Texas in January 1990 by two graduate students from the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work in order to provide resources for LGBTQ+ youths in the Austin area. Both groups still exist today and continue to serve LGBTQ+ people and cisgender, heterosexual people alike. The board of Waterloo later founded the Austin AIDs Project (AAP), which was incorporated as the AIDS Services of Austin (ASA). Soon after the HIV/AIDS epidemic hit Austin in the summer of 1983, Paul Clover founded the Waterloo Counseling Center in order to serve the LGBTQ+ community with queer-positive, affordable mental health services.
Organizations and Community Institutions The Austin History Center has a diverse collection of materials regarding events, organizations, and people related to LGBT history in the local area. On February 19, 2015, the first gay marriage in Texas occurred between an Austin couple, Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant. The first Gay and Lesbian Pride Fiesta began in 1990. In 1987, LGBT activist and Austin native Glen Maxey, was elected as execute director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1991. īy 1980, three more LGBT activism groups - Austin Lambda, Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus, and Gay Community Services - had been established, and six more nightclubs - Austin Country, Friends and Lovers, Hollywood, New Apartment, and Private Cellar. In response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic which began in Austin in 1983, the pride marches to the capitol building expanded in attendance to about 25,000 people. In 1976, Mayor Jeff Friedman established a Gay Pride Week to take place annually in June, which included a pride and march to the Texas State Capitol. These early organizations were subjected to homophobic backlash In 1975, an Austin Lesbian Organization party was raided by the University of Texas Silver Spurs, and pride floats built for Round Up Weekend were vandalized into the 1980s. An event organized by the Gay People of Austin was held in 1974 at Shoal Creek Park and the Student Union Ballroom, which about 300 people attended. By 1974, the Austin Lesbian Organization and the Gay People of Austin had been established. In 1970, Austin also became home to a chapter of the Gay Liberation Front, and local newspapers such as The Rag began supporting the movement.
This first public meeting was only attended by 25 individuals at University Y. The LGBT movement in Austin began in 1970, shortly after the Stonewall riots that sparked LGBT movements across the U.S. These included Apartment, Cabaret, Insomnia Club, Manhattan Club, Pearl Street Warehouse, and Red River Lounge. Throughout the mid-20th century, Austin had several gay bars, long before its LGBT movement began.