CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Orlando Narvaez moved to South Texas when he was in middle school. Still in the closet at the time, he says he faced bullying and confusion about his identity, which are common experiences for LGBT youth, according to him.
"There was no representation of any kind here in the Coastal Bend. A lot more people who were miseducated were still stigmatizing the LGBTQ community."
Narvaez says that while much of the city's Latino community embrace local LGBTQ people and culture, many of them grew up being told not to discuss the topic of sexual orientation.
"With a lot of the Latinx community, the way we were brought up for most of us was very, 'don't talk about the LGBT community' or, if they're very religious, religion got really involved," he said.
Now, Orlando works to make the Coastal Bend a better place to live for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals through his work at the Coastal Bend Pride Center. Part of that work now includes hosting a weekly radio show with CBPC director Robert Kymes on Pride Corpus Christi's UNITY 89.1
The show is called Rainbow Connections, and on it, viewers will have the chance to hear stories from members of the gay community, allies and other local voices.
"My hope and dream is that anyone who is listening knows that there is a community there are spots that you can go to. We're everywhere," said Narvaez.
Kymes says he also remembers a time in his young life when he felt isolated while coming to terms with his sexual orientation in a community that lacked Pride visibility.
"When I was a kid, there weren't outlets like this."
"I am really wanting people to listen to UNITY 89.1 who are part of our community because, yeah when I was a kid there weren't outlets like this. There was not a radio station that played LGBT voices and LGBT content creators and musicians," says Kymes.
"I am very much hoping that someone who was in my shoes in middle school and high school that was in the closet can hear something- can hear our stories and, you know get a little bit of rainbow in their life. I'm really looking forward to that."
Wanting to be the representation they needed when they were young
John Oliva is a board member of Pride Corpus Christi and is another host for UNITY 89.1. As a journalist himself and a former Alamo Drafthouse employee and host, he will be airing a culture segment for those interested in learning about queer identities through film. The show will be called "Queer Film Talks," and will air on Mondays.
Oliva was still an adolescent when he shared that he was gay with his family and friends. He says that his mother's support never wavered.
But when trying to learn more about what this new part of his life meant, he turned to movies and television as a way to research what it meant to be a gay man.
When asked what it was like to grow up as a member of the LGBTQ community in South Texas, he said he
Now working as a radio host for the station, he says he is prepared to face the challenges that may come- and it's worth it because of the possibility that he will reach someone who was struggling
"I grew up in Corpus Christi, my whole life. I am 32 years old. When I first came out of the closet, I was 13 years old. I was in 7th grade in middle school-- and I originally told my family and friends. And the first thing I did - because I didn't know what else to do was google gay film, gay literature, gay tv shows, gay music because I wanted to enrich myself in that community that I was a part of now and learn about that history.
"My mom was very comforting, nurturing and supportive of my sexual orientation. - after watching Broke Back Mountain
"Being in Corpus Christi, South Texas, there are some closed-minded people- which is understandable, everyone has their own thoughts and views, but we're just doing our own thing."
"Inclusion is for all-- there's no walls."
If you are not part of the LGBTQ+ community, Joshua Horowitz says that KBAE still wants to include you in its programming. As the host of "Today We Present," a show that focuses on how theatrical and performance spaces become safe havens for people who don't fit into the mainstream culture, Horowitz says he is excited to shed light on local people who have a story to tell.
Like Sister Lou Ella Hickman- a Brownsville native who published a collection of poems called “she: robed and wordless” in 2015. It's a religious body of work that gives a voice to women in the Bible. It was recently set to music by a professional orchestra performer. Sister Lou will be featured on an upcoming episode of "Today We Present."
"I think this whole project with the radio station is amazing. I think every time we show somebody the website for it or explain what's going on, they get so excited."
"It's just inclusion, inclusion, inclusion, inclusion. There's no walls- there's nothing I think that, from the station perspective, that we want to exclude people from, and I'm excited to be able to lift up voices and lift up stories. "
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