The heart of the city of Houston — the loop — and the greater Houston area has several neighborhoods that have helped carve culture, create identity and sustain history. In , Montrose was a farmland owned by Houston developer J.
Link envisioned Montrose becoming a residential area, an idea that sprouted when he had a mansion built on what is now a part of the University of St. Bond asked how many protestors Hill was expecting and he said Bond laughed. We are just not a demonstrating town.
Although that large of a turnout was unexpected, a lot organizing still had to take place for even the people that were expected to come. But with the limited resources that most marginalized minorities deal with, the LGBTQ community had to find a different way to galvanize and meet. The year directly after, at an infamous town meeting, hundreds from the gay community expressed views about their livelihoods and how they were being treated.
This started many gay centric coalitions, most notably the Montrose Center, which was then called the Montrose Counseling Center. The Montrose Center — partially founded by Hill and still around today — was not just an advocacy center. Francis Bueno is a criminal justice liaison for the Montrose Center. She started at the center 22 years ago as a case manager serving incarcerated people, starting primarily with the LGBTQ community and then branching out as the center grew. As Montrose grew and continues to grow, the attraction of the location invites a phenomenon that affects ethnic and minority neighborhoods around the country.
Like San Francisco and New York, Houston had their own defining moment in the context of gay liberation. The crossroads of Montrose Blvd.
