Submitted by Harvey Zuckman

I can only think of one other person in the history of Pride Bands/LGBA who had devoted so much to both Pride Bands/LGBA and his band than Russell Ben Williams (that’s not me and that person is already a PofP honoree). I’ll admit that I, and the Pride Bands/LGBA President at the time, recruited Russell into Pride Bands/LGBA service, but once recruited Russell continued to take on one challenge after another to better Pride Bands/LGBA and the Houston Pride Band.

While nothing Russell has accomplished could have been done alone, through his leadership skills, other volunteers happily joined in to make it all work, which is most especially evident in the massed band events he has coordinated, be it Gay Games, Presidential Inaugurals or hosting Pride Bands/LGBA in Houston (even when one had to be cancelled at the last minute and two mainstays of the band, Connie Moore and Deb Hunt had passed on!).

And as if serving a two-year term as President of Pride Bands/LGBA isn’t enough, he served two consecutive two-year terms!

In Houston, when things got down, he dug in further to bring new life to the Houston Pride Band. It took time, but with that resolve, the band was rebuilt and has flourished.

One might think this was all anyone could have time to accomplish, yet Russell has been engaged in so many ways with his local community. The information below speaks in detail to his Pride Bands/LGBA involvement, his Houston Pride Band involvement and some of the other activities that he has engaged in in the Houston GLBT community.

• 1990 – Attended first LGBA event at Gay Games III in Vancouver
• 1991 – Hosted the LGBA Fall conference in Houston by the Lone Star Band (Houston band’s name at the time)
• 1996 – Co-Chaired the LGBA Spring conference in San Antonio, TX with support from Oak Lawn Band
• 1997 – Co-Chair for the committee for LGBA’s performance at Bill Clinton’s second inaugural parade
• 1997 – Elected to LGBA Board as Secretary for one 2-year term
• 1998 – Served on the committee for Gay Games V in Amsterdam
• 1999 – Elected to LGBA Board as President for one 2-year term
• 2000 – Co-Chaired LGBA’s performance at the Millennium March on Washington and coordinated the band’s massed wedding ceremony performance at the Lincoln Memorial with Rev. Elder Troy Perry
• 2001 – Re-elected as LGBA’s Board President for a second 2-year term
• 2002 – Chairperson for Gay Games VI in Sydney, AU, as well as the side tour to Melbourne, AU
• 2002 – Introduced the concept of addressing Trans Awareness at LGBA events which was implemented the following year at the Minneapolis conference and has remained a staple of LGBA events
• 2003 – Elected to position of Vice President for Community Outreach for a 2-year term
• 2005 – Coordinated efforts to bring a massed band of LGBA musicians to Indianapolis to march alongside Pride of Indy Bands in their first Pride parade.
• 2005 – Re-elected to position of Vice President for Community for a second 2-year term
• 2006 – Co-Chair for Gay Games VII in Chicago responsible for all aspects of that event
• 2007 – Retired from LGBA board duties
• 2017 – Co-Chair for Houston’s LGBA conference, “The Stars at Night” which was unfortunately cancelled in the final hours by Hurricane Harvey.
• 2021 – Co-Chair for Houston’s Pride Bands Alliance conference, “Bigger and Brighter” which has faced enormous challenges in the midst of the Covid situation

Participation with the Houston Pride Band … 

• 1990 – Joined the band when it was called the Lone Star Symphonic Band and joined them at his first LGBA event that summer for Gay Games Vancouver.  
• 1991 – The next year, was part of the committee that brought LGBA to Houston for the 1991 “Stars at Night” conference.
• 1993, Elected President of the band and served until 1996.

In 1994, AIDS had taken a toll on his band’s membership and they were down to 12 musicians. Connie Moore, Debbie Hunt, and he, along with a few other members attended the “This Is It” conference in Fort Lauderdale to announce that their band was folding. LGBA was not willing to let them give up and filled them with the hope and energy that was needed to go home and rebuild.

Within a year, Connie, Debbie, and Russell rebuilt and rebranded the band as the Houston Pride Band. It took several years … ten, to be precise, to grow from being a side gig band at other organization’s events to becoming a full-on concert band. That happened in April 2005 when Russell proposed the “Out West” program, a full concert concept that was shared from another LGBA band (Los Angeles??). This performance was a turning point for Houston and put them on the map as a concert band for the LGBTQ community to follow. He later received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 from the Houston Pride Band and presented by Connie Moore citing this event as moment they went from being a gig band to a full concert band.

Russell served two more terms as President from 1997-1998, and 1990-2000 before he retired as he was concurrently serving as LGBA’s President and Co-Chairing the March on Washington event in 2000. 

• 2008 – Board of Directors Award
• 2013 – Lifetime Achievement Award

Russell took a timeout from board activities in 2008, but came back into service in 2015 to Chair the 2017 “Stars at Night” conference which was cancelled in the final days by Hurricane Harvey.

• 2017 – Award of Appreciation
• 2018 – Board of Directors Award

His efforts to Chair the 2017 conference led to his reelection back onto the band’s board where he has served as concert producer for their season’s performances until present time. 

And now he is chairing another conference, our 2021 “Bigger and Brighter” event in November.

Outside of band, in the Houston LGBTQ community he has been fairly active there as well. Here are some of those roles: 

• Pride Houston – 1998 – 2000
  Joined the committee responsible for organizing the Houston Pride Parade. Served on their board for a two-year term as newsletter editor and designer. 
• Received the Volunteer of the Year award in 2000
• The CHAMBER – 1998 – 2003
  An organization designed to bring together businesses catering to the LGBTQ community. Served as their newsletter editor and designer for five years. 
• Received the Volunteer of the Year award in 2003
• Houston Camping Group – Founded in 2008 – to present
  Founded this group for gay male camping enthusiasts. Currently at 140 members. Most recently camped together this Labor Day weekend with 90 participants.
• C U Next Tuesday Dinner Group – Founded 2008 – 2011
  Founded this group to identify gay males in Houston who didn’t have a circle of friends or didn’t go to gay bars. They met every Tuesday evening for dinner, as many as 40 members at a time to help friendless guys make new friends.
• NGPA – 2003 – 2006
  Served as newsletter designer for the National Gay Pilots Association.
• Kindred Spirits – 2009 – 2015
  Served as the token male in a lesbian-run organization as their graphic designer for their events. 
• Uncork & Unwind – Founder 2016 – Present
  Founded this group of 150 members A social group hosting wine parties at member’s homes for those who don’t go to gay bars.