Pride Bands Alliance is pleased to award the 2021 Pillars of Pride to Marita Begley and Russell Ben Williams.
The Pride Bands Alliance Pillars of Pride Award recognizes members whose outstanding service has contributed to our growth and development. The core qualities of the award are support, growth, musicianship, fellowship, dedication, and innovation. Tonight, we have two honorees, each with a decades long history of service and leadership both in front of our bands and behind the scenes. We will honor one in each half of tonight’s program.
Our first recipient’s involvement with Pride Bands Alliance goes all the way back to the very first event when the Lesbian and Gay Band Association performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1984 and continues to the present. Along the way she has led us with the world’s brightest smile as drum major and artistic director for two presidential inaugural parades, three massed band parades during our conferences, and at the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago.
Her tireless energy and unwavering devotion to her local band, the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps of New York is evident in her 26 years as drum major and 16 as marching director. The marching program has grown from 50 to over 200 members while achieving nationwide recognition. She received the Stonewall Foundation’s 2014 Vision award thanks to her steadfast dedication to the LGBTQ+ human rights movement.
Under her leadership, the band has performed at iconic venues such as Madison Square Garden, the Museum of Modern Art, and Times Square, and performs a full slate of summer parades in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Last year, her band reached one of the pinnacles of the marching band world, appearing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – the first time an LGBTQ+ band has ever appeared.
But even more than these accomplishments, she is simply a beautiful person. Her personal contact with new and veteran members of her band keeps them coming back. She is always finding creative ways to bring in the most number of people to participate.
She also has a genius for knowing what the audience wants to hear and for teaching the musicians on how to bring their energy to the show. Her bandmates wrote about how she guides the band from first read to rock star. Everything she does makes all those around her shine bigger and brighter.
In appreciation for her four decades of dedication to music, visibility, and pride, it is my honor to present the Pride Bands Alliance Pillar of Pride award to Marita Begley of the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps.
Our second Pillar of Pride recipient has a four decades-long involvement with Pride Bands Alliance and his local band. He has one of the longest résumés of accomplishments of anyone in our organization.
- Local band president – three terms
- Pride Bands Secretary – check
- Pride Bands President – twice
- Served on the Pride Bands Board – 10 years
- Gay Games Committee Organizer – twice
- Presidential Inaugural Parade Committee Chair – check
- Millenium March on Washington Committee Chair – check
- Pride Bands Conference Host Committee Chair – four times!
After his band had lost so many to HIV/AIDS in the early 90s, He and Connie Moore and Debbie Hunt remained steadfast that there would still be an LGBTQ+ band in Houston. They set about rebuilding the band, person by person, over a decade, setting the stage for today’s Houston Pride Band.
Undaunted only begins to describe his drive and determination to create welcoming spaces for our community, both within our bands and with the many community organizations he has served over the years.
He literally eats challenges for breakfast. Yet as he does all this, his spirit is always centered on care and concern for those taking part. Making them feel welcome and involved at every step. In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, his biggest concerns were for all the people who were planning to come to the conference and for the people in the Houston Pride Band. And through all of this, he will keep you laughing with his wicked sense of humor.
Taking part in events he organized is why I am able to stand here today. I know my life is so much bigger and brighter because I call him friend.
In appreciation for his four decades of dedication to music, visibility, and pride, it is my honor to present the second Pride Bands Alliance Pillar of Pride award to Russell Ben Williams of the Houston Pride Band.
