We’re Here, We’re Queer, We Will Not Live in Fear: Fred Paez, Paul Broussard, and the Role of Violence in Gay Houston

“We’re Here, We’re Queer, We Will Not Live in Fear: Fred Paez, Paul Broussard, and the Role of Violence in Gay Houston” examines the part anti-gay hate crimes played in the shaping of gay community and political activism in Houston in the 1980s and 1990s.  This paper considers two important case studies of violence in Houston: the shooting death of gay leader Fred Paez by an off-duty police officer in 1980 and the brutal gay-bashing of Paul Broussard in 1991.  Both incidents shed light on how the gay community in Houston responded to high-profile incidents of anti-gay violence.  Using these two case studies, the paper traces the evolution of gay activism against hate crimes from 1980 until the eventual passage of a hate crimes law in Texas.  This paper seeks rather to restore agency to gays who lived under the threat of violence and illuminate ways in which the community fought against oppression.