BRad Pritchett, 44, is well known in Houston as an activist for the LGBTQ community. The Houston Heights resident will serve as interim CEO of Equality Texas (EQTX) until December 2025, following the recent retirement of Ricardo Martinez. With multiple races coming up in Texas and the 2025 Texas Senate, Pritchett has a lot of work on his hands, but he is well prepared for the challenge.
“I[originally]came to Equality Texas because of former CEO Ricardo Martinez,” Pritchett says. “Some people don’t know that Ricardo and I were competing for the CEO position. The Equality Texas board made the right decision to hire Ricardo. We met and started talking shortly after Ricardo was hired at the Creating Change conference in Dallas. There was no competitiveness or hostility whatsoever, and he actually asked me if I’d be interested in working for Equality Texas. To my surprise, about a year later he called me and said, ‘We’ve found funding to hire you. Are you ready?’ It was one of the best decisions I ever made.”
Pritchett joined the EQTX staff under Martinez, starting as a field director and eventually being promoted to deputy director in 2023. In that role, he helped create strategy and engagement, and managed the work being done in the field and government relations divisions. As interim CEO, he will oversee all divisions within the organization and continue to create strategy for statewide efforts fighting for LGBTQ equality. He will also work closely with the development team to ensure EQTX has the resources it needs to continue advocating for queer Texans at the State Capitol and across the state.
EQTX has recently achieved some important victories, with Lauren Ashley Simmons defeating anti-gay incumbent Sean Thierry in the primary for House District 146. Simmons is the favorite to win and will join the growing Texas LGBTQ Congressional Caucus.
Another race Pritchett thinks people should know about is State Senator Molly Cook in the 15th Senate District. Molly won by 46 votes, highlighting the importance of every vote and the effort she puts into meeting with many of her constituents in her district. This district is Democratic and her election, with the support of EQTX, will see the first openly LGBTQ member elected to the Texas Senate.
When the Texas Legislature reconvenes in 2025 — a biennial event that always puts the LGBTQ community in Texas on edge — Pritchett has a plan.
“We intend to continue to focus on education and healthcare, specifically targeting transgender Texans,” he said. “Our team has been keeping a close eye on what’s happening across the country, what bills are being introduced in other legislative sessions, what messages are resonating with people, and what we can learn from that. We’ve already been working for months to prepare for the 2025 legislative session, and we’re confident we’ll be ready to aggressively advocate for queer Texans come January. We’ll also be pushing a proactive agenda and aiming to introduce more than 150 pro-equality bills in the next session.”
But before the session gets underway, Pritchett warned there are some key races to keep an eye on.
“In the 118th Congressional District, located in Bexar County outside San Antonio, Christian Carranza will face off against incumbent John Lujan,” he notes. “This race is the most competitive in the Texas House of Representatives and the one most likely to flip the seat from an anti-equality member to a pro-equality member.”
“Arlington is home to the 112th Congressional District, where Avery Bishop is challenging incumbent Angie Chen Button. Bishop is a former Miss Texas and has pledged to work with the LGBTQ+ community if elected.”
“Denton County’s 63rd House District will be contested between anti-LGBTQ+ incumbent Ben Baumgartner and former Congressman and member of the LGBTQ+ community, Michelle Beckley.”
“The House election is important for many reasons, but one of them is how close the Texas House of Representatives is to passing Governor Abbott’s school voucher program. Texas public schools are already underfunded, and private schools lack transparency and accountability when it comes to discrimination issues for LGBTQ+ teachers and students,” Pritchett emphasized.
While Pritchett will likely be spending a lot of time in Austin, don’t expect him to completely leave the city he calls home.
“One of the things that makes our city unique is how Houstonians look out for one another,” he says. “Whether there’s a power outage, a hurricane, a storm or flood, you always see people helping their neighbors. After the last hurricane, the Montrose Center was collecting and distributing supplies to anyone in need, not just LGBTQ+ Houstonians. Our people are resilient, they’re fighting, and they’re fiercely protective of one another. This is especially true of the LGBTQ+ community.”
For more information, visit equalitytexas.org.
