Community Hot Spot

Christopher Barry opens KIKI , a new upscale club in Montrose.

By CONNOR BEHRENS

After opening BUDDY’s in Montrose several years ago, local bar owner Christopher Barry is bringing an additional hot spot to Houston’s gayborhood with KIKI, an ultramodern club that features giant TV screens, a dance floor, VIP sections, and spacious outdoor seating.

For Barry, a native of Beaumont, creating safe spaces for those in the LGBTQ community has become a passion of his over the last few years, and KIKI felt like the perfect way to continue that momentum.

“I named the club KIKI to celebrate our LGBTQ+ ancestors who hosted house parties before gay rights or gay bars existed,” he explains. “They laid the groundwork that made it possible for today’s gay bars to even exist. What better way to recognize their efforts than to name something in their honor?”

The club, located next door to BUDDY’S at 2409 Grant Street, features immersive audio, dazzling lights, an upscale liquor selection, comfortable indoor lounge sections, a patio, and a back bar designed for speedy service.

Getting into the bar scene was quite a career shift for Barry, who has been selling medical-implant devices for 12 years. But he notes that his former career was a way of helping people, and working in the club scene is no different. Opening BUDDY’S, and now KIKI, is his way of making sure everyone has places of their own to relax, kick back, and have fun.

“If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that it sucks to be alone,” he says. “People go out for personal connection and to experience the adventures of life. I got into nightlife because I saw the gay bars failing. I wasn’t sure if gay communities were losing their safe spaces because of a cultural shift [to online dating and delivery service] or because of mismanagement. After working in the nightlife industry, I realized it was a little bit of both. So my goal was to remove the pain points people were experiencing in gay bars, and get involved in actively working with and for the LGBTQ+ community.”

Like BUDDY’S, Barry plans to make KIKI a pillar of the Montrose LGBTQ community by offering the new space for community events. Hosting events such as the Gaymers Charity Drag Show March 10 and Cornhole League Stars on April 19, KIKI is hosting several LGBTQ community events over the next few months.

“KIKI is already off to a great start as a community player,” he notes. “Over 600 people voted at KIKI in the last election cycle after KIKI followed in the footsteps of BUDDY’S next door. BUDDY’S and KIKI are connected by a hallway.”

Barry wants to make sure that KIKI becomes a wellknown polling center in order to encourage the gay community to play a more active role in politics. Barry suspects that BUDDY’S was the first LGBTQ bar in the world to serve as a polling place for a presidential election.

Since opening these two businesses in the gayborhood, Barry hopes that Montrose can evolve with the times and remain a safe haven for the LGBTQ community.

“I hope the gay nightlife here in Houston can stay fun and energetic, offering up experiences for everyone to enjoy,” he says. “Montrose is great because there’s such a synergy between all the clubs and bars around here. I believe gay bars can still be safe spaces for the community to go out and make connections, feel safe, and express themselves as they truly are. I got into the nightclub scene because I wanted people to have a good time and hang out with friends, and KIKI an atmosphere of excitement and inclusiveness with elevated flamboyance.”

For KIKI events and hours, go to KIKI Houston on tinyurl.com/kikiHou asked Avery if they were “gonna go through the procedure.’’ Since that exchange, Jackson said Avery hasn’t wanted to testify again before the Legislature.

“It’s this same idea that in any of these discussions about trans people just being treated with basic dignity and respect, legislators want to reduce them to one body part,’’ Jackson said. “They miss the entirety of the human being sitting in front of them having a conversation.”

Advocates say the rhetoric surrounding these proposed bans further exacerbates an already treacherous environment for transgender people, their families, and medical providers. Children’s hospitals around the country have faced an uptick of harassment and threats of violence for providing gender-confirming care.

Though she said she’s received an outcry of support since her testimony, Herzig said she and the pharmacy she owns have also gotten hateful emails and calls.

People opposed to gender-affirming care for minors argue that children are too young to make decisions about their futures, sometimes comparing such treatments to child abuse. That’s despite medical experts saying the care is safe when administered properly.

Nearly every major medical group, including the American Medical Association, has opposed the bans on such care for minors.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last year ordered the state’s child-welfare agency to investigate reports of genderaffirming care for kids as abuse. Amber Briggle, the mother of a transgender teenager in Texas whose family was investigated after Abbott’s order, said she gets frustrated when speaking before lawmakers in her state, who she thinks have already made up their minds on the issue. But Briggle said she plans on returning to Texas’ Capitol this year, and that Herzig’s encounter motivates her even more to show up and speak out.

“They should not have to fight this alone,’’ Briggle said of transgender people testifying in statehouses. “They should know they have loving, supporting allies in their corner.’’

Herzig said she probably would not have testified had she known she was going to be asked about her genitalia.

“I felt like I was pretty much prepared for any combative question,’’ she said. “Except that.’’