Queer Onda El Paso

In this episode we talk about the power of music — not just to entertain, but to express who we are, tell our stories and connect us with one another.  Our guest is performer and artist, Jaimielynn Amato, known as Songbird of EPTX. We talk to her about the journey behind the music, the importance of authenticity, and what it means to find your voice as a queer artist here in the Borderland.
 Listen to  Jamielynn Amato  here:   www.https://songbirdofeptx.com/

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

Ten years ago, the Borderland Rainbow Center was a new idea: a vision for a place in El Paso where LGBTQ+ people could find community, support, resources and, most importantly, a place where they knew they belonged.
  Today, the Rainbow Center has become an important part of El Paso, providing valuable services and resources not only to the LGBTQ+ community, but to the greater community as well. Recently, the City of El Paso recognized that work with a proclamation celebrating The Center’s 10th anniversary.
  Now, The Center is entering what could be one of the most exciting chapters in its history. A recent $500,000 gift to its capital fund is helping move the organization closer to the possibility of purchasing a permanent home—a space that could allow The Center to expand its services, reach more people and imagine new ways of serving El Paso.
      To learn more about those plans—and what the next ten years could hold—we talk with the Borderland Rainbow Center’s Executive Director, Amber Perez, and President of the Board of Directors, Stan Sloan.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

Identity can be an interesting thing. We use words to describe who we are, where we come from and where we belong—but most of us don’t fit neatly into just one box. We carry a lot of different identities with us, and sometimes figuring out how they fit together is part of figuring out who we are.

  Here in El Paso, many of us grow up with a pretty strong sense of what it means to be Chicano, Latino or Mexican American. It's part of our families, our language, our food, our traditions—and simply part of living on the border. And for some of us, queer becomes part of that identity, too. We thought it would be interesting to talk about what happens in the space where those identities meet.

 Today we're talking with Borderlands historian  and head of the Chicano Studies Department at the University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Irma Victoria Montelongo about being queer and Chicano, how each of those communities has shaped us, where we find belonging within them—and what it means to claim both as our own.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

Across the country, gay men's choruses have long been about much more than music. Beginning in the late 1970s, LGBTQ choirs emerged in cities like San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles, giving people the opportunity to celebrate who they were through song at a time when acceptance was far from guaranteed. They became places where friendships were formed, confidence was built, and communities found strength in raising their voices together. Today, hundreds of LGBTQ and allied choruses perform around the world, carrying on a tradition of visibility, connection, and hope. Now, El Paso is proudly adding its own voice to that tradition. The El Paso Gay Men's Chorus Plus isn't simply making beautiful music—it's creating community, celebrating authenticity, and proving that when people come together in harmony, everyone is heard.  In this episode,we talk to the  chorus founders, artistic director and members of the choir.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com

From the Stonewall Riots of 1969 to the frontlines of the LGBTQIA+ rights struggle of 2026, Pride continues to be one of our communities most visible assemblies. This is an account of the very first Pride protest.

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Our guest in this episode is Sidney A. Alvarez, a television and brand journalist who opens the door to one of life’s hardest truths in his debut book, Your Soulmate Expired, And That’s OK. We talk with him about some of the complicated realities of LGBTQ+ dating, and how happiness doesn’t always begin with finding “the one” — sometimes it begins with finding yourself.  Sidney shares his intimate journey through the shock, fear, and pain of losing a 23-year relationship, and how he came full circle by learning to empower others on their own emotional journeys.

For more information visit www.queeronda.com