Wayne Hilton is a designer, artist, and boundless creative. He is widely known as an excellent event planner, host extraordinaire and El Paso’s own style guru. With a background in costume design, his passion for art, interior design, fashion and travel, Wayne creatively managed to bring all of those influences together when he launched his YouTube Channel ‘The Consummate Host’. We talk to him today about all things stylish from fashion, décor, entertaining and the overall zeitgeist of the El Paso community. Lastly, we ask him about how he began his YouTube Channel and what viewers can learn from his videos.  

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

A positive quality of life for the LGBTQ+ population in a city includes creating a place where individuals feel supported as their whole selves; including their sexuality, gender, race, national origin and faith. It is a city that provides concrete support, not just symbolic support, through actionable laws, policies, and practices to protect LGBTQ+ residents. 

Our guest today is Ben Fyfee. Ben is the Managing Director of Quality of Life for the City of El Paso Texas.  He has 27 years of experience as a public servant and experience in connecting community to the arts, incubating local creative sectors, catalyzing tourism development and helping ensure access to quality recreational & educational experiences for families.

He has also been named as one of the Grand Marshalls of the 2025 El Paso Sun City Pride Parade.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

In this episode we celebrate all things Pride and share some of the events and changes in our community during Pride Month. Our guest is Christopher Eck, President of El Paso Sun City Pride who talks about what’s new and exciting about this year’s celebrations. He also discusses some of the challenges faced by EPSCP under this political and economic climate. And, just for fun, we offer our picks for your Pride Month Playlist and Quintessential movies that capture the spirit of Pride.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

Religion and spirituality can offer a sense of meaning, purpose, and community.  Many times, our personal beliefs can contribute to mental and physical well-being and help shape our morals and ethics. For LGBTQ people, the role of religion can be a source of both solace and suffering.   While many LGBTQ Americans have been raised in an organized religion — and many continue to cherish their faith community — many others have been forced to leave those communities behind because of condemnation. In this episode, we welcome Nick Emerick, the president of the Unitarian Universalist Community of El Paso and Tammy Hood who is a member of their congregation.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

In the late seventies, gay men in the San Francisco Bay Area who were typically masculine presenting, stocky and hairy met informally at bars and parties. These men began to be known and later self-identify as bears. The men remained in a somewhat secluded group until their status was formalized and celebrated with the founding of Bear Magazine in 1987.
          Since then, bear communities and clubs have spread all over the world. Bear clubs often serve as social and sexual networks for their members, who contribute to their local gay communities through fund-raising and other functions. Bear events have become very common, to include smaller-sized cities and many rural areas. In this episode we talk to Christian and Ivan who are part of the Los Chuco Bears group leadership. They tell us about their own bear coming out story, why  inclusion is important  and why the 'bear thing' has become so popular.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

Months before the Texas legislature convened this year, dozens of anti-LGBTQ house bills were introduced by republicans. Many of these house bills will move forward and unfortunately some may become law. At the top of the list are bills that move to erase same-sex education and further disenfranchise transgender citizens of Texas. In this episode we talk to Dina Perez with the El Paso chapter of the LGBTQ Real Estate alliance and Amber Perez with the Borderland Rainbow Center about this surge of legislation in Texas. We also offer guidance about what each of us can do to help counteract the anti-LGBTQ tide that is washing over our state and country. We also invite everyone to join the 'Free to Be' campaign.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

In this episode we talk to Broadcast Film Critics Association member, Felipa Solis, about the past, present and future of queer representation in film.  Felipa shares some of her favorite queer-themed films and offers insight into the evolution of attitudes about telling our stories. We also discuss three major 2024 Oscar nomination contenders that highlighted queer characters in film. Later in the episode, we offer our own favorite films that helped boost queer visibility and ultimately highlighted the universality of our stories.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

In this episode we recap all our episodes in 2024. Over the past eleven months we have had the opportunity to talk to members of the LGBTQ community, their family and allies. Our topics have ranged from the political to the practical and while some of the conversations have been serious, we managed to find humor and heart in each interview.  Enjoy our year-end recap and look for new episodes of Queer Onda El Paso in 2025!

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

Gay men's attitudes about safe sex have changed over time and are influenced by the availability of new treatments and prevention methods.
 
In the LGBTQ community, different generations have grown up with varying views about gay sexual culture. For example, men who came of age in the 1970s experienced an open sexual culture, while men who came of age in the era of safe sex and ‘mandatory’ condom use may have   slightly different issues involving their sexual behavior. Most recently, younger generations have more relaxed attitudes about safer sex due to new ways to treat and prevent HIV. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is widely accepted by gay men at risk of HIV who may see it as relief form their anxiety about sex.  In this episode we look at some of these generational differences and talk to Sergio Flores, HIV Education Specialist for the City of El Paso.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

October is LGBTQ History Month. It is when we commemorate the milestones of our community to honor the people who have helped to get us to where we are for us to celebrate Pride in June.  There is perhaps no better icon in El Paso to talk to about our community's history than Gilbert Salazar.  Gilbert was a visible member of the gay community when being queer in El Paso was risqué and, in some ways, more exciting. He tells us about the early days of the bar scene and how he came up to be crowned the first-ever Miss Old Plantation which was an historic gay bar both locally and renown throughout the state of Texas.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com