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Amy Jimenez reacts to a near goal by Mexico at a Mexico and Czechia watch party at Los Robles during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
The outdoor patio at Los Robles, a lively gay bar in northwest Houston, is filling up quickly on a Wednesday night. People are filtering in to watch Mexico take on the Czech Republic in their final World Cup group match.<\/a> The air crackles with a joyous, collective anticipation even before the game starts.<\/p>\n Ice-cold beer buckets are the centerpieces on many tables. The smell of fajita tacos and\u00a0pupusas wafts from a nearby food truck. Space City Pride FC, a local\u00a0soccer group dedicated to creating safe, inclusive spaces for\u00a0LGBTQ+ athletes and allies, holds court in one corner of the expansive patio, raffling off T-shirts, caps and stickers.<\/p>\n Space City Pride FC at a World Cup watch party at\u00a0Los\u00a0Robles in northwest Houston, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Joey Guerra Fans watch Mexico play a World Cup game at Los Robles in northwest Houston, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Joey Guerra A replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy is seen on the bar at Los Robles as Piero Arevalo opens a beer for a patron during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle Mexico fans order drinks at a Mexico and Czechia watch party at Los Robles during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle A replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy is seen on the bar at Los Robles as Piero Arevalo opens a beer for a patron during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. Members of the LGBTQ+ soccer community and allies came together to watch the match as Houston takes part in the tournament playing out across North America.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle Piero Arevalo opens a beer for a patron at a Mexico and Czechia watch party at Los Robles during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle Maximiliano Solla watches game action at a Mexico and Czechia watch party at Los Robles during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle A fan watches Mexico play a World Cup game at Los Robles in northwest Houston, June 24, 2026. The club has its own jerseys for sale.<\/p>\n Joey Guerra<\/p>\n MORE FROM JOEY GUERRA: Here are 38 of Houston’s fiercest, most fabulous drag queens<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Inside the bar, the mood was equally festive, if a bit more intense. Less block party and more focused energy. Soccer fans stood at high-top tables, eyes locked on the screens. Even the bartenders were watching. The game audio boomed through the speakers and shook the walls. The moment El Tri stepped onto the pitch, the crowd erupted.<\/p>\n Most of the club, inside and out, wore green jerseys, many emblazoned with the Los Robles logo on the back and available for $50.<\/p>\n “Adidas doesn’t need your money. Los Robles does,” quipped the club on Instagram<\/a>. “Support a local queer-owned business while cheering on the national team.”<\/p>\n It was a striking moment of serendipity: the world’s most popular sport playing out during Pride Month. High-octane energy simmering under a barrage of rainbow decor and Pride flags. The love of the game and the need for community\u00a0coexisting as one beautiful, drawn-out “goooooal!”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “Honestly, it feels like family,” says Francisco Benavides, who has played with Space City Pride FC for seven years. He was born in El Salvador, raised in Houston and played soccer throughout high school and college.<\/p>\n “Everybody takes care of you, on the field or outside the field, even at the bars and\u00a0just in general. You make friends for a lifetime.”<\/p>\n Gina De La\u00a0Garza, Space City’s treasurer and a college soccer player, echoes that sense of community. She attended LeTourneau University in Longview, where students must sign a faith statement that prohibits “homosexual behavior” and “attempts to change one’s given biological birth sex.”<\/p>\n Jonathan Cortex, second from left, hands some of his Salvadoran food to Zach Gasaway, left, as Ismael Melendez, far right, looks on at a Mexico and Czechia watch party at Los Robles during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n “I had been out in high school, and then I went back in the closet for college because this is my scholarship money, this is playing the sport that I love for four more years. Now to be out of college, to be in a queer sport community, I think it’s beautiful,” she says.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Before branding as Space City Pride FC in 2022, the club went through such names as Montrose SC, Montrose Soccer Boys and Houston\u00a0Haycocks. The last few years have brought rapid growth, including dedicated squads for women and non-binary players. Players of all skill levels participate in everything from Saturday morning pickups to league play as members of the International Gay & Lesbian Football Association. Space City Pride regularly competes in matches around the country and hosts two of its own tournaments.<\/p>\n Amy Jimenez, left, jokes with Maria Garcia at a Mexico and Czechia watch party at Los Robles during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n For this year’s World Cup, Space City Pride FC and the Montrose Center are hosting “Pride House Houston,” an internationally recognized safe space for\u00a0LGBTQ+ fans and athletes during major sporting events. It’s part of a larger global effort by Pride House International<\/a>, which includes host cities\u00a0across Canada, the United States and Mexico. The concept can include watch parties, social events and discussions about visibility in sports.<\/p>\n “It’s the community and bringing two worlds together,” says Stephen Olson, president of Space City Pride FC. “For a lot of us, we have our multiple worlds, and we’re able to bridge those gaps between our personal lives, our chosen family, our friends, the sport that we love and finding a place where all of that can mesh into.”<\/p>\n Alex Carmelo claps as the Mexican national anthem plays at a Mexico and Czechia watch party at Los Robles during the FIFA World Cup, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Still, despite the progress, professional soccer remains a complex landscape for LGBTQ+ fans. Earlier this year, the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and more than 120 other human rights organizations issued advisories for soccer fans<\/a>\u00a0traveling to and within the United States for the\u00a0World Cup, “in light of the deteriorating human rights situation in the United States and in the absence of\u00a0meaningful action and concrete guarantees from FIFA, host cities or the U.S. government.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n There has never been a\u00a0publicly out player on any team participating in the World Cup. (By contrast, the 2023\u00a0FIFA Women’s World Cup had 96 out players<\/a>.) What’s happening on this Wednesday night in Houston, then, is all the more important: the visibility of Space City Pride\u00a0FC, the affirmation\u00a0of “Pride House Houston,” the rainbow lights and flags at Los Robles.<\/p>\n “My happy place growing up was always soccer. It was a place that you could put aside whatever went wrong in the day. The minute you stepped inside those lines, all that mattered was the other people you’re playing with and fighting for them,” says Stephen Olson, president of Space City Pride FC.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be able to be yourself while doing the things you love.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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