CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Hundreds of people made their way to Water's Edge Park Saturday to celebrate LGBT History Month at the Fifth Annual Pride Corpus Christi Parade and Block Party.
Saturday's celebration may have meant a little more to those in the Drag Community after Senate Bill 12 was ruled unconstitonal by a federal judge last week.
3NEWS spoke with a local drag queen and Vice President of Pride Corpus Christi. They said that that the federal judge's ruling gives their community a better sense of hope for the future of drag.
Robert Kymes, Vice President of Pride Corpus Christi said that when law makers in Texas tried passing bill 12 , a law that would have restricted drag performers and their shows, earlier this year, they worried for his friends in the local drag community and this year's Pride Parade and Block Party.
"It was definitely nerve-racking because there was a lot of things that we would have to change about this event especially if that bill were to have gone through. It was just awful to see a certain aspect of our community being targeted."
But a sense of relief fell over Kymes and the drag community as SB12 was ruled as unconstitional by a federal judge in late September.
"If the bill would've passed, we got ourselves a tent with walls so that it could be a private event. We were gonna have drag no matter what because we support our drag performers, and we support all of the LGBT community."
Local drag queen Robyn Valentine remembered the moment she heard about SB 12 in March and telling her friend she wasn't going down without a fight.
"I just cried to her and I said 'I have no choice but to go to Austin because they are not going to pass that bill without having to tell me, to my face, that I am not allowed to live my life the way that I choose."
Getting to express herself at Saturday's Pride Parade and Block Party means more for Robyn knowing there are no restrictions on what she can do in drag. But they still remain vigilant in waiting for any future revisions of senate bill 12 that could change the current ruling.
"I'm doing this because I'm think about all the youth, all the adults who may have never been able to express themselves, never had that freedom. They get to see someone of their community being celebrated. And maybe, just for a second they think 'if I live my life authentically, if I put myself out there, I too can have the means to succeed.' "