Since forming in 2018, The Woodlands Pride has hosted an annual celebration with thousands of attendees each year. However, due to concerns with coronavirus, the nonprofit organization announced in late May that it has canceled its event this year and is instead focusing efforts on supporting other marginalized groups in the surrounding area, such as Life Gets Better Together and There's Room at Our Table.

The Woodlands Pride CEO Jason Rocha said the organization's purpose is to foster relationships in the LGBTQIA community while promoting equality, unity and love in The Woodlands and beyond, which is difficult to do when large gatherings of crowds cannot be assembled.

"We try to help them as much as possible," Rocha said. "LGBTQ people have to apply the right to celebrate not being discriminated against at work. Just five years ago was the first time we could legally get married in this country on a federal level. It is very important to remember these milestones that are happening in our lifetime in recent years. It may seem like the 'agenda' is moving quickly, but there are a lot of rights we are still fighting for."

Recently, The Woodlands Pride has been focusing its efforts on supporting Black Lives Matter by highlighting The Woodlands local branch of the group.

"One of the founders of the LGBTQ movement was a black trans woman in New York," Rocha said. "During this time, when we have a bigger voice right now, especially during June, we are going to use that voice to help our black and brown brothers and sisters, regardless of sexual orientation. If you keep down one group, you are eventually going to keep down another group."

Rocha added he does not anticipate Black Lives Matter being the last group his organization supports due to injustices both in the country and the world.

For those interested in getting involved, Rocha said The Woodlands Pride is always taking both donations and volunteers. Volunteers are needed on a number of committees from community outreach to event planning.

"Right now, we are looking for people who are interested in helping grow The Woodlands Pride," Rocha said. "Basically, it would be a few hours per month helping. If you are with the volunteer committee, you are going to help recruit volunteers and keep in touch with them. If you are on the fundraising committee, you are going to help raise money. If you are on the festival committee, you are going to help plan events."

Looking to the future, The Woodlands Pride is planning a virtual event later this fall, though Rocha said details are limited at this time due to it still being in the planning stage.

"The fight's not over," Rocha said. "We firmly stand with our black and brown community, and we are going to use as much light to share with them as we can because that's what is needed right now."