And we're going to start off by introducing my beautiful wife, Liza Dillard.
Hi.
That could have been good or bad, trampled me, whatever.
So I'm so excited to see everybody here today.
Thank you for coming out.
I know everybody wants to hear what's going on with Rock and City Pride.
And you're probably wondering a little bit about why I'm involved and why are shenanigans as involved.
And at this point, I just wanted to share that the people who are newly involved with Rock and City Pride, I really trust and care and love about.
And I would not be advocating for them at this point if I did not think they were capable of turning things around with Rock and City Pride and doing it right by the community going forward.
And they know that I won't speak out loudly.
If they don't.
But I am asking for everyone here to listen with open ears and open hearts and open minds today as they share with you their plans and their struggles.
And just get to know the new board for Rock and City Pride.
And the first person that I want everyone to get to meet here today.
And some of you have already been out in the community getting to meet her.
I'm going to read their bio.
And it is Laura.
Laura is an attorney with a precise command of the law.
A writer drawn to the dark, a macabre, and a gamer who prefers strategy over spectacle.
Calm, observant, and rarely underestimated twice.
She has devoted her life's work to representing marginalized communities and ensuring their voices are not ignored.
Laura has sat as president on two previous non-profit boards and has a history of leaving without the actors.
Just resolve.
Patience and an unsettling ability to get results.
So let me introduce to you Laura Kirby, president of Rock and City Pride.
I think I sprung out on the last second that I wanted him to hop up here with me.
All right.
Thank you all for coming out.
I've met with so many people over the past four to five weeks.
And I see a lot of your faces.
And I see some of the drag community out there.
I've been hitting up those shows as well.
It's been very, very entertaining and enjoyable.
So just a brief, how did I get here?
I believe it was Megan Flosia who first introduced me as the new president of Rock and City Pride.
And she said, Laura, come up here and tell everybody a little bit about yourself.
When I know she wanted to say, Laura, come up here and tell everybody who the fuck you are.
Because not everybody knows who you are.
So I'm Laura Kirby, and I was elected to the board of Rock and City Pride just before Pride Fest of 2025.
We attended Pride Fest.
We had a decent turnout.
It wasn't as good as years before, given decisions that were made in 2024.
So after Pride Fest, we all had a meeting, and we were told that the entire board, minus the new people that had been elected, would be stepping down.
I waited for some direction and was basically told it would probably be best to dismantle Rock and City Pride.
And a couple of people behind me, maybe more than a couple, didn't think that was a good idea either.
I urged the board, while it was still intact, to make some apologies to the community, to reach out to have difficult conversations, and that didn't happen.
I offered to sacrifice myself.
I will be the tribute.
And it didn't happen.
So the board stepped down, and I did one of the only things I knew to do.
I leaned on a friend, Jacob Kirkland.
And I said, come on, bitch, because I can't do this without you.
I can lead, but I don't have the contacts in the community that she does.
So we decided that we would put together a board that we knew would be holding to the community.
Because Rock and City Pride is not about one person.
It's definitely not about me.
It is about you.
Every one of you.
the drag queens, the drag queens, the drag kings, the transgender.
You're some of my favorite people.
And so we have reached out and met six, seven groups that I knew and JQ also knew were the most hurt.
And so we have to go to the next one.
We have to go to the next one.
And so we have to go to the next one.
And the Vice President, J.Q. Perkman.
How are you guys doing?
So it was important for me to speak because my community is hurt.
And although there were not decisions that I made personally, I feel responsible.
Because I am co-founder of Rocket City Pride.
And for that, I want to reach out to my family, which is all of you, and tell you that I'm deeply sorry that when you spoke up saying you did not want LCR at Rocket City Pride, they were still allowed to be there.
And there's nothing I can do except promise you that I will listen to you from now on with anything you come to us about.
And I hope that you understand that we're going to set this down.
And we're going to move forward because we love each other and we want to make this community strong.
A really good friend of mine, Vincent Rutherford used to say, without unity, you can't spell community.
So, I've seen circling around how unity is always capitalized in community and that's something that he started and I'm so glad to see it continuing that way.
So, if you will, please understand, we want to hear all of your voices.
We want to sit and listen to each individual one of you.
What we do ask is that you let us talk today and then afterwards, if you want to meet with us personally, the board is committed to staying and listening to each individual one.
We will have a question and answer, but it's going to be about the new things we've got coming along, which we hope that you're excited about.
But I do want to tell you that I love you and that I'm sorry and that we are moving forward from this.
All right, I do want to introduce one person and I'm not going to make them come up here, but I do say that I'm co-founder of Tennessee Valley Rocky City Pride, which means what?
There's another one. And she just so happened to grace us with her presence today. Amy, will you stand up, please?
A lot of you youngins don't know, but when Free to Be closed down, they were actually the ones running Rocky City Pride at the time.
And I took over in 2017 when Vincent, please come over here and acknowledge what we put up.
And Vincent's mom is sitting right there. Her name is Joanne Rutherford.
And yeah, for sure. I try to take her to every day function that she's willing to go to to keep her active in the community because she calls this her family, which means a lot to me.
But I'm going to introduce. Actually, you're right. Let's do let's show you guys what we started with as far as this is our new logo.
I personally was not okay with a rocket because it's I kept screaming astronaut, astronaut, astronaut.
So Laura woke up and said, I was dreaming about an astronaut.
And I couldn't go to sleep. So this is what we've been given.
And I hope you guys like it.
Shout out to Daniel Moya for doing the logo for us.
I do want to take the time to introduce the board.
You guys have met Laura and myself.
This is Michelle.
Michelle is a transgender woman.
Living in Huntsville, Alabama, she has been transitioning and exploring her sexuality since 2022 and is so happy to get to live her genuine self.
When she is not hanging out with her community, she enjoys watching anime, collecting comic books, trading card games and playing retro video games.
Please give it up for Michelle.
She is also our secretary.
Alright, now we're going to move over to Mr. Mason Gunn.
He is the treasurer of Rocket City Pride.
He is focused on transparency.
Right.
And he is also our treasurer, focused on transparency.
He is earning the community's trust through clear, accountable financial stewardship.
When he is not working on budgets, you can typically find him playing the Lotro.
Yeah, I was told I would be like that if I messed that up.
Or whatever game has hooked him in this week.
Y'all give it up for Mason.
They didn't sit in order, but that's okay.
I love them anyway.
Then we got Caleb, a.k.a. Hobeard.
Who here does not know who Hobeard is?
Okay, you're going to know them, okay?
You're going to know them.
They know them.
You're welcome.
Hobeard is DJ, sound tech, and event producer with deep roots in nightlife and performance-driven events.
With over four years of experience in DJing, drag shows, hosting, and emceeing karaoke, producing burlesque showcases, Hobeard knows how to read a room and keep the energy high from door open to last call.
Give it up for Hobeard.
And then, this might look like a familiar face.
This is Patrick Haas.
Patrick Haas is a member-at-large and brings years of nonprofit leadership as well as volunteer experience.
He served as treasurer of Rocket City Pride from 2020 to 2023 and is a founding committee member and active volunteer for Huntsville's free LGBTQIA+ closet here at Shenanigans.
Patrick Haas is a drag entertainer as Breeze Farkel.
Since 2011, he used her visibility and performance to uplift and support the LGBTQIA communities.
Y'all give it up for Patrick.
Do any of y'all know who Carrie is?
I do!
Okay!
Okay, okay.
Let me tell you something.
Once y'all meet her, you're going to love her.
This is Carrie Aranes, is a life coach, retail ace, alright, and a community activist.
Her mission is to plant positive seed of change on a consistent basis, eliminating competition through collaboration.
Y'all give it up for Carrie.
Excuse me while I turn cheat sheets.
This is a short one.
Who knows Okino in here?
Anybody?
Okay, y'all are going to like him.
He's not only cute, but he is so sweet.
Okino Humphrey is a Huntsville native looking to expand his impact in the community.
Can you guys give it up for Okino?
Alright, let's move along with this presentation.
You see the new logo again?
Daniel Moya has been my graphic designer for probably about 15 years.
So I reached out to him.
We don't have to go back, but you're ahead.
Yeah, you go.
Okay.
So he's been my graphic artist for about 15 years.
He's done multiple things for me.
But when I finally gave in to JQ and said, okay, an astronaut, that might work.
The first thing I said was, he needs a patch and it needs to be a heart and it needs to be the transgendered flag.
Because the progress flag is great, but we wanted to give a special nod to the transgender community.
That was hurt so much and we're here to make amends with.
I have two transgender children at home, so the transgender community is very near and dear to my heart.
So once we did the logo, I think it was Hobeard that coined the term relaunch.
So we didn't just redo the logo.
We have rewritten the bylaws.
We have added a code of conduct.
We have rewritten the mission statement, the value statement.
We have guiding principles and all of that will be available for you to review on our new website,
which Mason will be talking about shortly.
But the code of conduct puts out specific requirements of everybody who's sitting up here in front of you right now.
There will be no infighting.
There will be no name calling.
There will be no bullying.
There will be no harassment.
There will be nothing of the sort.
And if these people up here, including myself, do not hold themselves out to be, hey, go Pats.
I know we're here at Super Bowl Sunday.
Where are my Patriots fans at?
Oh, come on now.
I lived in Boston for 15 years.
You can't move to New England and not root for the home tape.
It's worthwhile.
Give us something to make fun of you.
Do the thing.
Hold on.
I'm not sure you've found plenty to make fun of me or bad.
Anyway, so we're holding ourselves to the highest standard.
In our bylaws, there are the instructions, for lack of a better word, of how to report behaviors within the board.
So I'm not above being called to task.
If you review the bylaws, you'll see that if -- I'm going to pick on Mason.
If Mason does something wrong, anybody can come tell me.
They can come tell JQ.
There's a process.
It's formal.
It's in the bylaws.
I didn't read them today.
I did draft them, but I don't remember them exactly.
But let's say it's me.
Let's say I'm the problem.
There's a process for that, too.
Because I should be held to the highest standard as president of Rocket City Pride.
As an attorney, I have a fiduciary duty.
And as an officer of the court, I'm held to the highest standards of being honest and trustworthy.
So I take this job as the president of Rocket City Pride extremely seriously.
And I believe that my fiduciary duty to Rocket City Pride extends to the community.
So if anybody ever has, at any point, an issue with me, here are all the people you take it up with.
Because it will be fixed.
But I promise, I'm going to behave.
Just a little bit.
Am I missing anything?
No, I think I covered that.
Mission, vision, bowels, code of conduct.
Check, check, check.
All right.
So the -- oh, I'm sorry.
I don't have a copy of it.
I promise you'll like it.
Oh, okay.
Mason, coming in clutch already with that.
All right.
We will get that for Monty.
Okay.
So just to be -- oh, we have a call.
Just to be fair, Seahawks fans.
Woo!
Yo!
Okay.
Was that a yes or a no?
Hot.
Okay.
Excellent.
Excellent attitude.
Okay.
Yes.
Got it?
Okay.
Here's the new mission statement.
Rocket City Pride's mission is to uplift and unite the LGBTQIA+ community by fostering
safe, affirming spaces for everyone.
person is seen, valued, and supported.
Through connection, advocacy, and action, we work to build a more inclusive, resilient,
community.
The vision.
Rocket City Pride envisions a society where members of the LGBTQIA+ community live openly
and with dignity, supported by communities grounded in respect, compassion, and understanding.
A future where differences are met with curiosity rather than fear.
Where bridges replace barriers and where every person has a space to belong and thrive.
Again, you'll be able to check out all of that on our website.
Mason will be talking about a little more in depth.
So, turn it over to Mason.
Yay!
Woo!
Thank you.
So, I'm Mason.
I'm the treasurer.
My main goal is to make sure that we are very transparent and open with all of our financial.
We don't want to hide anything behind closed doors.
So, on the website at the very bottom, you can scroll down and there's going to be a little
piece of text that says financials.
We'll click back.
And then on a quarterly basis, we'll be publishing what our total balance is for our account.
I plan to expand that out a little bit.
The website currently is capable of doing events.
You can post your own events if you have community events that you want to share on our website.
It will go through an approval process.
So, one of the board members here will approve it and then we'll go live.
The same for performers, vendors, and sponsors.
All of that will go through that same process.
So, nothing is going to be approved.
It has to be approved before it lands on our website.
And for it, we're also looking for suggestions on what we need to add to the website and things
like that.
So, feel free to reach out and let us know.
Any few emails at @RocketCityPride or you can fill out a contact form as well.
Are we not allowing people to go up to the website and review all the vendors that are going to be at PrideFest?
Absolutely.
So, the first thing we need is to go up to the website.
As soon as we get it and we approve them as a vendor, it's on the website and everybody can do it.
That goes for performers and everyone.
So, we want to make sure everything is transparent and that's basically my goal.
Alright.
Does that cover everything again?
He did a really good job with the website.
You guys are going to love it.
For real.
Thank you.
We need to find initials back to you.
Well, let me know if you need me to make them bigger.
Oh, no.
What are you talking about next week?
The financials.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
I'm Michelle Ostrich.
I'm the Secretary of Prophecy of Pride and I can go over the social media.
So, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
So, one of the issues we had in the previous year was we observed a lot of outrage around protests, obviously.
And as a result of some of that, a lot of people got blocked on the socials.
So, we had an action back from community meeting of almost one year ago to review the banned block list on the Facebook.
So, I've completed that.
I took through going through that.
I have some of just the basic stats here.
There were about 60 people on the block list, 67.
I went and reviewed them all by hand to make sure that all the community members would be possible back out of that list.
It was also half, half of people were, when you just open someone's Facebook, you shouldn't be able to see Mafovia in the first ten pages.
But you can, unfortunately.
So, a lot of people were left on the block list.
People I couldn't find or couldn't, you know, just posted pictures of the dogs, they're unblocked too.
So, I was unable to unblock 50% of people off that block list, hoping to err towards unblocking more people.
So, if I'd like to meet people through, I'll be monitoring the socials for any of the transphobia, homophobia to go up there and ban and block those re-offenders, for sure.
So, we do have, we're going to try and post on the socials, some, you know, some events.
Like right now, it's about History Month.
So, we're putting up some, you know, simple recommendations there.
And just hoping to move that back to more of a positive space.
This work has been skewed, a little netted, fatted, and rightfully so.
It's been very defensive out of the Rock Seed Pride side of that exchange.
So, I think, I expect it to be better moving forward.
So, something we'd like to look forward to posting and announcing on that Facebook sometime soon is the next Pride Fest.
So, we have the date picked out for the next Pride Fest.
Saturday, October 3rd.
We've got Butler Green on 8:05.
It came to us 8:05 for that.
So, we can use the, you know, the process that's basically described to, you know, vetting out all those vendors.
But look forward for information for that coming forward.
Because, you know, as a consumer of Pride, I always look forward to Pride Fest.
It's, you know, great something to do outside of June.
There's always something to do in June.
So, looking forward to having that again this year.
So, then next we move to opening the floor for Q&A.
I'll just hold the mic and move to that aside as appropriate.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Michelle.
Thank you for going through so much.
And I saw you do a lot of that.
And making sure you're paying.
I see you're hurting.
We're trying to be better.
Like, a lot of it.
I don't know.
Because I don't know.
So, I saw you do a lot of that.
And making sure you're paying.
I see you're hurting.
We're trying to be better.
Like, a lot of it.
I don't know.
Because I don't know.
I don't know.
So, I saw the work that went in this issue.
And, yeah.
People that, like, I recognize at least three people on block list day one and got them out immediately and sent little things.
But also, there's a 50% bad review for the page right now.
And each of those has a hurt.
So, it's going to take me a while to go through each of those hurts and write a little something underneath it about how that could change from that era where we caused a lot of previous hurts.
But it's an ongoing thing, for sure.
I also wanted to, um, what's this one?
I also wanted to acknowledge that we are on Facebook Live.
And I know that there were a pretty good bit of people that were popping up on there.
I'm not sure where we're at now.
Do you have a number?
No.
Okay.
We do have frequently asked questions.
Well, I can answer the second one.
Um, I heard through the grapevine at the last community meeting that, um, specifically an attorney was asked for in case we ran into that again with LCR.
So, once that, once I heard that I knew somebody that would be perfect for the job, and she's sitting to my right right now, and I asked her to apply for a board position.
She got on the board, and I'm pretty sure she'll do whatever she can to make sure we're in legal standing, because if not she could get in trouble.
So, way to trap them.
Anybody have questions about the third one?
Tell us.
Okay.
Well, we're trying to find the best way to handle that, and at first, at first, we said absolutely no political parties, but that would put a strap on ALTRAC.
Now, we don't want to shut out ALTRAC.
So, I'll let you take how you're going to handle that one.
Do we have anybody from ALTRAC here?
Okay.
So, we initially said, it's going to be easy.
Just no political parties.
We don't let any political parties in.
We're not going to have to deal with that again.
But ALTRAC, when we sat down and talked to them, made a very good point.
They are very involved in politics, and they want a chance to come out to Pride Fest and hobnob, shake, how do you say it?
Shake babies and kiss hands?
Yeah.
And to say no political parties whatsoever would draw too faint of a line between the people we don't want and the people that we want.
And so, we listened and we did a little research.
And what we're going to do is we are going to individually vet out, as Michelle did at this past Pride in 2025, each individual sponsor before they appear on the website.
We're going to let groups like ALTRAC in, so long as their goal aligns with our mission and vision statement.
That's the plan going forward.
And it's going to be public.
It's going to be on the website.
And if anybody sees anyone who is a vendor listed at any event on any day, it is not appropriate.
Contact one of your board members, and we will take care of it within 24 hours.
So, we're going to get immediate results.
All right.
Now, Jessica is going to walk around.
I feel like we answered the other questions, but if it wasn't transparent enough, please feel free to ask us anything, and we'll answer the best we can.
So, what is the role of members at large in the new board?
Well, so much.
Like, just because we're an executive board doesn't mean that they don't take an active role in every decision that we make.
It's not fair for poor people to run the community organization.
They -- we've got Hobeard, who has his hands out towards all the drag community, which needs to be heard.
You got Patrick, who is part of the drag community.
Okino, he's wanting to put himself more out there and be at events and host them.
That's -- he's trying to come out of his comfort zone.
He's wanting to help more within the community.
And I promise you that once you get to know Carrie, Carrie, let me just give you the mic for a minute, and you just do what you do best.
I'm here to have a good time.
I don't do drama.
I don't do back and forth.
We set it straight.
We have conversations.
We are transparent.
And we're about love.
I don't care who you fuck.
Amen.
Okay.
That's what it comes down to.
I'm just here for a good time and a good, clean time.
Keeps that.
Y'all carry.
Next question.
Did that answer your question?
Absolutely.
Okay.
They have just as much of an important role as us.
We just -- you know -- you just talk more.
We gotta say it.
What did you say?
I'm sorry?
They do cool shit.
We gotta say it.
Yeah, they do the fun part of everything.
We do the hard part of everything.
And it's an even balance because they're more fun than we are.
Next slide.
So I know that there are corporations that have LGBTQ groups.
But some of those corporations also fund murder, basically, across the seas.
Genocide.
That is weird.
What is the plan in regards to, like, are you going to still take sponsorships from groups like that?
Or is that something that we need to kind of talk over still?
Can we start with Buckeyes?
Is that a little too far?
No!
Boots on her feet!
Not to eat!
Yes!
Again, in line with our value and our mission statement.
The dollar is not worth your feelings.
It's not worth your safety.
Yes, sir.
Can I just -- let me just add something.
I -- just because I sat -- you're not -- no.
Absolutely no.
I love -- hell yeah.
I just want to say, as somebody who sat in the midst of craziness on this board,
that when things happen, if money is given and they don't know about it,
that you inform them and you help them to correct things when that happens.
And I know that they will listen this time.
So just I am asking for patience for them because I know that will be different.
Thank you, Jessica.
And on that, I'm going to say this.
Facebook is Satan.
I don't care.
I'm sorry for anybody that loves it and lives on it.
I keep it because I keep track of my wife and my kids because she posts all the pictures and the memories that pop up.
But if you have a problem, if I have a problem, I promise you I will not go to Facebook about it.
Anybody in here that knows me personally knows if I have a problem with you, I'm going to come to you.
And I ask that you do the same thing.
And if you do that, I promise you I will handle it with kid gloves.
I will respect you.
I will listen to you.
And we will fix the problem.
And I know everybody on this board feels the same way.
Next question for Lynn.
When will the new website be up and running?
Because as of five minutes ago, when you Google rocketcitypride.com, it comes up with the wits.
If you go to the website and you take off the www dot, it will take you to the new website.
It is a brand new website and it was a little rushed in the last minute to get everything live.
So we're still working on some kinks on that.
But if you go to just rocketcitypride.com, you'll be directed right there.
I haven't set up the DNS records for the forwarding of the www and stuff like that, technical stuff.
I have a question.
When you retracted the bylaws, how much of the original material were you able to keep?
And how much of it did you have to basically go from scratch?
If you could talk a little bit about that process.
Yeah, absolutely.
Just with any other legal document, in a set of bylaws, there's a lot of boilerplate language.
Language that is repetitious and will appear in just about any bylaws from any corporation that you come across.
So I'm going to say, if I had to take a guess, maybe 40-45%, mainly the boilerplate.
The way we vote is different.
The way we interact with the community is different.
The standards that we hold each other to are different.
The way we allow the community to interact with us is completely different.
The code of conduct is brand new.
And there are things in there such as how many people must be on the bank account.
How often the bank account must be released even if it's not asked for.
How many hours we have to release the bank account if you want it during a time period that it isn't automatically released.
I think I said that right.
So we're going to release it, for example, we're going to release it quarterly.
But in between quarters, if you don't like something that you have seen, heard, or maybe you are just curious, you can ask for it.
And we have, I think it's 24 hours to give you the balances.
And I think it's 48 to review recent transactions.
But things like that are brand new.
Transparency, if we've said it once, we've said it 10,372 times.
Because that is absolutely what we are striving for.
And we rewrote the bylaws to make sure transparency was really the main focus.
Because, again, we are here for you.
And you're not here for us.
You know, you don't answer to us.
We answer to you.
And the bylaws give, hopefully, the community some peace of mind in how we're going to respond and how quickly we have to do so.
Thank you.
My second question, if you don't mind.
I've noticed that it's an even number of people on the board.
So do you mind talking about, like, how you address quorum and what to do with a tiebreaker?
We 100% will address that shortly.
Y'all see another chair up here.
Fair enough.
Thank you so much.
Absolutely.
I did want to say about the bylaws.
I was kind of nervous when Laura said, hey, JQ, I'm going to email you these bylaws.
Look them over.
And I was thinking, shit, I don't know no legal terminology.
But when I pulled them up, it was a breath of fresh air, especially coming from an attorney, that I understood everything that was in the bylaws.
There was no gaps.
There was no misunderstandings.
It was very transparent.
This is what to expect and this is what we'll give you.
So if you look over them and don't feel that way, let her know.
Thank you.
Next question.
I'm pretty new here as far as building a foundation here in Alabama, so I don't really know the backgrounds of the new board and LCR, nor do I know what LCR stands for.
Log Cabin Republic.
Republicans.
Sorry, C. Hill, I didn't even know what the public stood for.
I know it pissed a lot of my friends off.
Do we want the short synopsis?
Sure, the short synopsis is they've been very vocal about not liking trans people, so fuck 'em.
They are an organization and it is essentially gay Republicans, but they speak out about anti-trans laws and other things that hurt our community.
Uh-huh.
Yes.
Okay.
Any other questions?
Uh-huh.
Okay.
I'll come back.
Sorry.
I actually just wanted to offer a point.
Just make sure I'm totally clear because we're wording on the slide is political parties.
Um, and I just want to point out that Outrack is not, um, a political party.
We're not even, like, a 501 or a PAC or anything like that.
We're, like, so grassroots.
Um, we're basically just, like, seven ratings in the transcript.
So, I just, I wanted to make clear that, like, the delineation isn't, like, 501 C4, 501 C, whatever, whatever, but, like, if we're, uh, endorsing, like, a candidate who's, I think, could be a Democrat, could be a Libertarian, could be whatever, um, that that's cool.
And the deciding factor is just value, submission statement, et cetera.
I think your, in the meetings with, uh, Outrack, you stated politics, not political parties.
I'm thinking that that's a little bit of a confusion there.
But it was, it was no politics across the board.
And then, uh, you changed it to what it is now.
Yeah.
I, I think that when we were making these slides, it would have been a lot better if we used the same language that we used in the past.
But, yes, politics.
And I forget, um, honestly.
Who is the, who, I don't know.
Allison.
That was the one with the fabulous energy.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Okay.
I could, I could talk to her all day long.
I just love her.
But she was very, um, detailed in her explanation, and I believe that when we concluded that meeting, we were all on a very, you know,
eye level, same understanding of what it would look like if they wanted to attend Pride Fest.
So, yes, I, I appreciate you pointing that out.
Um, Outrack could bring us any political party.
Because they're not political party, they're politics.
Did you get that from me?
Yes.
So, I apologize for the wording on the slide.
I don't forgive you.
Okay.
We have a next question.
Right here.
Hi.
So, this is a bit, uh, two-pronged as well.
Um, I, I think it's safe to say that in this room and in this community, there are not just a lot of hurt feelings, but a lot of mistrust, not just toward the organization, but even toward the new vendors who are sitting on this board.
And I wanted to ask because we see a new logo, we see a new board, we see new faces, and that's, that's fantastic.
The rebrand is probably more needed than we really understood it was.
For a great many of us in this room, we had no idea that the entire board had stepped down.
We had no idea there was a new president.
We had no idea that any of this was taking place before, for many of us, the last week.
And I think for some of us in this room, even hearing the entire board have stepped down and tried to dismay the organization, this may have been the first time they've heard this.
It was never posted to any of the socials, the website, nothing was changed.
So my question is, what do you say to the people who right now feel distrustful towards you because the transparency not only has not been there,
but because that transparency has not been there, it feels like some of these changes may appear more as a fix.
I just want to say that I appreciate the question.
Don't, don't trust me.
Watch me.
The community, the community deserves the best.
And I can tell you that all day long.
And some people in here know me and know where my heart is.
I don't know you.
You're not even sharing your face with me, but I can tell by your eyes you're really cute.
But I can't ask you to walk by faith and not by sight.
Watch us.
I've been doing this since 2017, and this is the most excited I've been since 2018.
I just want to say one thing.
I think there comes a time when you have to understand that we have to earn it back from you too, and that will take time.
We're going to be here for it.
And before I start crying, and I'll be always, I know as long as I'm here with these people, and they're over there with those people, we're going to be with you at the same time.
And working through it every day, no matter what it is.
And I also hear that you're saying that the social media wasn't updated as quickly as it possibly could now.
And I'd love hearing that type of feedback.
That's the only way to get better.
That hasn't been an open communication line for us at any rate for a long time.
And I look forward to hearing more stuff like that, because we need it.
That's the only way we're going to get better.
And we're going to do it tonight.
What actions can you state for this time that would be your first good faith measure to show us that this isn't just our case?
That's a great question.
I haven't answered that question.
Okay, absolutely.
Listen, this amazing human over here, Laura and JQ, listen, they have been meeting with like half of Huntsville for what feels like the past month.
Just every day, there's another thing.
And if that's not at least some step in the right direction, it's a good little faith step, in my opinion.
All I'm going to say is, they're going to keep doing it.
We are going to keep doing it.
Keep meeting with people.
And that is a good step in the right direction.
And if we can do more, we're always open to listening to that.
So, they did not release the information very quickly.
However, the meeting started on, what was it?
Goddamn.
Two weeks ago.
And the first people they met were Monty and I.
Because we have been very loud and very obnoxious for a while.
And their first thing was, hey, we're going to start meeting with you, let's make this list.
And so, a lot of these updates weren't our news to share, but they were trying to come to the most directly impacted people and the most vocal first.
So, that is what gave me the faith to go ahead and say, alright, I like this.
And they also have, one, people I don't know up here who they trust and people I do know up here who I trust.
So, we can't just jump in and throw all our trust in now, but they did take initial steps that have been giving me the faith to say, this is the changes we need.
Thank you.
Hello, everybody.
Hi.
I have no question, but I just want to give a little feedback on what we just said.
I do like what you said, it's a walk by faith and not by sight.
And I'm going to say, I personally appreciate the movement inside.
Because with something that's happened publicly, the enemy is always right there watching, trying to see the next move.
So, with this being caught on the blind side, there was no way that they could get in to know what's happening.
So, thank you.
Thank you.
So, I know that the community had a lot of problems with reaching out and that was a big thing.
We just got pretty much ghosted on communication.
And even now since then, I don't know, it's not like there's an interview of social media and things.
There's been communication that's been out there.
What, without putting it upon us and blaming us for trying to reach out and saying, hey, your community didn't reach out to us when we did.
And understanding that, how does this board want to get feedback from your community and take that, because there's been social media and there's an email that was out there for y'all.
And personally, I sent things to it and never received anything back.
And I'm sure that that's not a singular event.
How are y'all going to go forward and make sure that when there's something that comes up that needs communication or some communication from your community or community members, that will be addressed and that won't just be ignored.
And I apologize.
I've looked through the email and brief as well.
There's a lot.
There's a lot back there.
And it was, it was a lot to get stagnant in the wake of a lot of public and stuff and then in the changeover where it was, you know, really changing.
So, I'd say, you know, you can send anything to the Facebook, to the Instagram, to the email and try and start monitoring that.
And it's going to take a while to get through down to the backlog, but it is something that's, that would not be done, that just simply is, is restarting, like, looking for them.
I'm getting, I want to speak as someone who was on the board when all of that happened, right?
We were told not to communicate.
So, they now have a social media policy that says to communicate, if anything, to over-communicate.
And I'm going to trust that they are going to follow that.
Or we're all going to call them out on it, right?
And I think this has to say, in a little bit of a more lighthearted tone, we have a lot of gamers on this board.
We are always in front of our computers.
We are going to see the messages.
We're going to have a monitor.
And I will be happy.
Anybody who thinks that that's not going to be sufficient, I'll be happy to give you my personal cell phone number, my office number.
You can reach out anytime and contact me directly.
And I believe I gave my phone number to every organization we sat down and spoke with.
And if I didn't, if I didn't, it is 256-509-0608.
Make sure you tell me who you are and don't call because I won't answer.
But if you text me, I promise you I will respond.
So it's not really a question.
It's kind of to the individual that was speaking in reference to the New RCP moving in silence.
As somebody who was on the previous board as interim president and previous president, that's one thing that I actually wanted them to do.
So that way they wouldn't be bombarded with a lot of community questions and feedback.
Just so that way they can have the time to actually rebrand, do what they need to do and come to the community full sludge and transparent as I've been saying so far.
So as somebody who was in previous leadership, I think y'all are doing a great job thus far.
Thank you, Brandon.
And I am going to say this because I wasn't on the fucking board at the time.
So I'm going to put this out there.
The people that were leading that board silenced the board.
So not everybody on the board is at fault and to blame.
And I'll say that and I love every one of you and I'll stand by that.
But the board was silenced.
I'll even go a greater distance and explain to you why I know that the board was silenced.
I woke up with a passion.
Those of you that don't know, the Vincent Rutherford Equality March is something that I created when Vincent passed away in 2017.
If you don't believe me and his mom's right there, you can ask her because a lot of people don't believe that.
So I woke up with a burning passion to give something that the parade in Huntsville has never had besides a trailer being pulled behind the truck and that was a float.
And I set out and I raised the money to purchase a float.
And I did it.
And I raised money to have it painted.
And I pulled it behind my truck in the parade.
And I'm also co-founder of Bay Pride in Panama City that's now dismantled because they ran into a lot of problems.
But the other co-founders called me one day and said, "Hey, JQ, we have this Mardi Gras float.
If you don't come get it, we're getting rid of it."
How much?
Nothing.
Just come get it.
So I got my big ass in the truck.
Well, actually my wife's Pathfinder.
Drove to Panama City and pulled this big float across the state of Alabama.
Let that sink in for a minute, okay?
I drove this huge ass float across the state of Alabama.
And this is something I've been wanting to tell the community for a long time and I've been denied.
So I'm taking the time.
I pulled that float into Lot K off of Clinton Avenue.
Everybody knows where that is.
That's where the parade starts.
My big bunch ass driving that big ass float up through Lot K to drive through the city and wave.
Happy Pride!
Pictures being taken.
News stations were there.
Somebody that was pissed off at Bay Pride got in touch with Rocket City Pride and said, "JQ stole that float."
My son, he's going to walk in and talk because he can't go without being the center of attention sometimes.
So the president at the time of Rocket City Pride called me and said, "JQ, how did you get this float?
How did you get the floats?"
And man, let me tell you, I woke up with this burning desire and I went and got one.
And then when I was offered a better one, that Mardi Gras people built, I was quiet.
Okay?
The next month, I went to the parade and the float.
The board got on the float.
I started talking to people, "Hey, anytime y'all want to use this Christmas parade, St. Patrick's Day, just let me know.
It's the community's float."
People were not talking to me about it.
People that I'm really close to were not talking to me about it.
Like they were ashamed to say anything.
You're scared to say something.
Well, I'm not an idiot.
I'm no attorney.
I'm no engineer.
And I'm no gamer.
But after working with this community for so long, I put two and two together.
Sorry guys, I'm putting y'all on blast.
Some of my closest friends, being Jessica and Brandon, signed NDAs to not tell me that I supposedly stole this float that I drove across the state of Alabama with my family and my friends in the car.
That I pulled through the city behind police officers in a stolen $30,000 float.
They couldn't come to me and tell me.
Instead, to even be able to find out what the meeting was about, before they could show up, they had to sign an NDA.
Now how fucking ridiculous is that for this community?
Y'all want to know why y'all ain't seen me in a while?
Because I tell my wife everything, as I'm sure Jessica tells her wife everything.
As I'm sure Brandon tells people that he's close to everything.
Those people didn't sign NDAs.
I wasn't ashamed, because I didn't fucking do anything wrong.
Guess what I have?
A bill of sale.
Guess what I have?
The receipt from the float being built.
Guess what else I have?
A deed signing it over to Rocket City Pride.
But guess what I never gave them and I'm so fucking glad I didn't.
That's the kind of board.
That's the kind of leadership, I guess is the correct thing to say, that was the board.
So when you ask me how you can trust me, because I've been where you're at.
The only difference is, is I didn't speak your will about it because I had to do what I could do to be there for the community and to make sure that Rocket City Pride didn't go to shit.
I gave one of my best friends over so she could represent the organization that at the time went to shit.
And had she not been there, it's safe to say, neither would Rocket City Pride.
So when you ask me if you can trust me, I've been there.
And I'm sorry.
Genuinely sorry.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Yes, we're going to pass it over to Hobeard for him to do something that's very, very exciting to us.
Listen, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing right now, but are we going to have a good time?
Thank you.
See, a little help from the DJ booth.
That's only where I'm at, but I like it when you're over there too.
Listen guys, I didn't know what I'm supposed to be doing here and I'm just going to take time to talk for a second.
I kind of wanted to do this for a long time because this has been a long time.
Come on.
Can I get an attitude check?
Fuck you, bitch!
Woo!
See, I wanted to do that for a long time while standing here on this stage and say it feels good to have a chance to have pride back.
It really does.
And now I'm going to walk over here and find out what I'm actually doing.
Did we figure out what I'm actually doing?
Look at this, guys.
I figured it out.
Sometimes you figure it out.
Sometimes you figure it out on the fly, okay?
We got it together.
Everybody say, oopsie!
Oopsie!
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you.
Okay, listen.
So, if you remember what happened back in the day.
Well, I'm going to say, oopsie!
Oopsie!
Thank you.
Okay, listen.
So, if you remember what happened back in the day.
Well, I'm going to say, oopsie!
It really does.
Now I'm going to walk over here and find out what I'm actually doing.
Did we figure out what I'm actually doing?
Look at this, guys.
I figured it out.
Sometimes you figure it out on the fly, okay?
We got it together.
Everybody say, oopsie!
Oopsie!
Thank you.
Okay, listen.
So, if you remember what happened back in the day.
Long story short, we had some amazing queens that earned royalty and then eventually stepped
down because of what was going on.
And they're very near and dear to my heart.
And so, we're basically going to redo this in a way, if that makes sense.
Coming up, there's going to be a winter formal event at a very near and dear place to my heart,
Maggie Myers, if you've been there.
It's going to be a great time.
And at that event, we are going to take time to honor the two people that ended up stepping
down, Megan and Tempest.
Please stand up!
Ditto!
I'm going to be giving them the titles back as meritists because we'll talk about that
stuff at some point, but it's probably going to stick with you guys for a while because
you deserve it, at least.
After all the shit you've been through, for real, I'll make some noise for these two.
If nothing else, they stood with you guys.
And for you guys, for real.
They were two of the biggest proponents of what ended up helping Rainbow Trouble come together
and form a pride so that we could have one that year.
It was really fun to be a part of that too, and it felt like them kind of putting their
crowns down really gave us a way to, I don't know, connect with the drag community and also
show that we were going to stand together and not take what was being done here at the pride.
And I'm going to end off talking now by just saying a few other things.
This kind of feels like a long time coming, right?
I called a lot of people that were out behind me in the past.
Not these people, but the people that were in the chairs before them out really hard and
fought for them to leave for a long time.
And it feels like a very good apology to be there right now.
Yes!
And I wanted to say one thing, and this is the most important thing for me while being up here,
is that as long as we all have pulses and we're on this board, you can talk to us like people.
You can come up to us.
We'll hug your neck.
We're going to be your friends.
We're going to be people that care about you.
We're going to be there for you and speak to your face.
And if you have anything you ever want to tell us, you've got Jake Hughes' number already.
I mean, you can have mine too.
I'll answer it better on Instagram.
No, that's not what I want to say.
But nevertheless, listen, we're here for you.
And if nothing else, thank you for giving us this chance today, for real.
It means a lot.
And one more time, if you didn't learn it last time, you heard it from a neighbor, right?
You learned it now, right?
And they get an attitude check.
Fuck you, bitch!
That's what I'm talking about.
One more time.
Make some noise for me!
Sorry.
My bad.
Hey, everyone.
My name is Mami Blunt.
I've been doing things in the community since at least 2021.
I started out with Trans Family Support Services.
And after I was released from their services, I joined the Rocket City Medic Collective.
I became a board member on Weird Kids with Jessica.
And I have continued doing this work and trying to be here for my community.
And I want to say, I have worked with JQ for years.
I know JQ.
I know Hobeard.
I've seen Michelle around.
And I am learning the new faces.
Rocket City Medic Collective was the group who called Rocket City Pride out.
Because we knew they could be better.
We knew they could do better.
We deserved better.
It led to a lot of negativity and a lot of hatred and yelling and hurt.
But at the same time, I feel a lot of pride and a lot of respect for the fact that the board
has come back together and said, let's be better.
So, for whatever it's worth, for those of you who have seen me before, I will give them my
stamp of approval.
Thank you, Moni.
Following that up, I just want to let you know, I had this cool idea.
Who here signed this?
What is that?
This is the petition.
This is the petition that I'll try to put out on Friday.
The I'll try petition.
Is that fair?
Can we call it the I'll, the I'll track petition?
No.
So, I had this cool idea of, I wanted to put these names up here.
So, I could say thank you.
Thank you for being the voice the community needed.
I was told it probably wasn't a good idea for various reasons and I'm thankful that I had a transgendered member on my board to correct me where I would have misstepped.
I know we didn't post the names from this petition, but I have read every single one of them.
This is what we need.
This is what the community needs.
People who are not afraid to put themselves out there and ask for change.
This is what we need to do.
Can I give it up to Laura?
So this next introduction is very exciting to me.
I've had a vision for this whole community coming together,
whether it was organizations for the trans community,
whether it was organizations for youth groups,
whether it was organizations for pansexuals, DJs, queens.
It doesn't matter.
We're all the same.
The same blood runs through us.
I like that.
So this next introduction is near and dear to my heart.
And I know that everybody is going to be excited.
And if you're not excited, please tell me why.
Because I've never found anything wrong with this person,
except they're a little conceited sometimes.
Sometimes.
But I'm going to not delay any longer,
and I'm going to welcome our ninth member of Rocket City Pride,
Jessica Cotton.
Hey, in case you guys don't know,
when Rocket City Pride didn't back down from LCR,
this bitch right here stood up and said,
"Not to my people."
All right.
Let's do this again.
Let's do it better this time.
Okay.
Woo.
Let's try.
We're going to do better.
Thank you.
I appreciate all of you for trusting me in whatever capacity.
And I'm just really excited to be here.
And I will probably cry.
So.
Cry.
All the time.
I am a crier.
So.
What about the iguanas?
The iguanas.
They are some of my favorite animals,
and I appreciate you always, men.
I feel right being here on the board with these wonderful people.
Some that I'm just now getting to know.
Y'all are hilarious.
I can't wait.
And the rest that I have already built really great relationships with.
And I really want you to see that they are working for you
and working for our community.
And I look forward to continued collaboration.
And I promise you that I will always have some fight in me.
And probably customers.
Thank you.
That's right.
That's mine.
If you guys don't take anything away from this.
I do want to address one other thing.
I'm sorry.
We did not hold election.
What we did was we tried to bring people on that we knew and we trusted.
As I stated, I asked Laura to apply before the old board stepped down.
And when she didn't have a VP, she picked me.
And then she asked me who I wanted.
And who I wanted was worried about how busy they were.
And I understand that they're going to be on the auxiliary board.
But I asked them who they suggested because I trusted their opinion.
And they picked Patrick.
We asked Michelle.
Michelle, who do you want?
I think less than 30 seconds.
A response?
Less than three seconds.
She stated ho-beard.
And I said, you got ho-beard?
And then we asked Carrie.
We asked Mason.
But Mason said, all I do is work and play video games.
So.
But we asked Carrie.
And Carrie said, you know what?
I think I know somebody.
And that's how we got Okino.
So.
This board was hand-picked.
And I can personally say, like, you know what?
I think I know somebody.
And that's how we got Okino.
So.
This board was hand-picked.
And I can personally say, like, you know what?
I think I know somebody.
And that's how we got Okino.
So.
This board was hand-picked.
And I can personally say, like, you know what?
I'm not an easy person to like or love because I'm very guarded and protected.
And you don't get to see who I am if I don't trust you.
But I can tell you that I love and respect everybody sitting on this board.
And Jessica was a no-brainer.
No-brainer.
And we knew exactly who we wanted because it's all about bringing our community together.
And who better to sit on the board than somebody with fucking shenanigans.
Please.
We plan on staying.
I don't have anywhere I have to be.
I'll stay until the last person walks out of here and all their questions are answered.
I can't speak for the rest of the board.
I know that there was time allotted to answer your questions if you don't feel comfortable asking here.
But please come up and talk to me.
I want to hear every comment, concern, and everything going on, okay?
Yes.
And one more thing.
I'm going to help J.Q. out here when she doesn't have her wits about her fully.
My family's not here.
But her family is.
I see my girlfriend right there.
Hey, baby!
Say hi to everybody, Barbara.
I'm trying to steal her, just so you know.
She is all mine.
That's J.Q.'s wife.
Her kids are over here, Addison, Ryland.
I just want to thank them for letting me steal J.Q. almost every night for the past three nights
as we work on this and put this together.
Three nights?
Oh.
Three.
It's been a while.
It feels like six months, I'm going to be honest.
But no.
We appreciate the patience our family has had and our friends have had as we have lived and breathed.
This meeting, talking to you, meeting with you, rebranding, relaunching, rewriting.
We are so excited about the future and we just, once again, thank you all for being here.
Absolutely.
And if y'all ever question what this woman means to me, I fought for ten years for my little girl over there.
And she's the only one that was ever able to follow through and give her to me.
Amazing.
She also overseen me adopting my son, Riley.
Can I do one more spouse shout out while we're up here?
Kimberly!
I just need y'all to know that Kim was never for me being on Rocket City Pride's board originally.
It was like, whatever you want to do, I'll respect it.
She was adamantly opposed to LCR.
She wanted that shit shut down immediately upon finding out.
It was, she had very strong opinions.
And she's one of the most supportive spouses y'all will ever meet and I'm very thankful for her.
But when we started talking about this, she was like, yes, do it.
Do it.
So thank you, Kimberly, for supporting you.
For sitting in meetings with us and for all the wonderful things that you do.
I'm really glad that you said that because there is one vital part of this board, is we're putting together an auxiliary board and Kim is actually heading that up.
So we are going to have the board move to the green room.
That is the door with the jokers on it sign in the hallway.
If you would like to meet with them privately, this is the time to do that where we can take down phone numbers and y'all can get some phone calls back.
If y'all would give the board just a few minutes to come through and hug people and all of that good stuff.
And then they're going to head to the green room.
We'll start online outside the green room door where you can meet with them individually.
So you guys can move to the lobby.
We do have another event coming in here about 3:30.
So that's what we're doing now.
The board is going to the green room.
The board is going to smoke a cigarette.