LGBTQ Saves Youth Pride Picnic is an annual event that has grown since it began in 2021, and the 2025 event looked to be the largest ever with more than 500 expected to attend.
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There was one problem facing this year’s event: funding. Several of the organization’s traditional funders couldn’t provide support for various reasons, said Bertinand “Bertie” Gardner, program director for the organization, a Fort Worth-based nonprofit that creates affirming spaces for LGBTQ youth.
A chance email with information about a potential grant from Paramount and MTV changed things. The $10,000 grant is helping the organization prepare for the June 21 event.
“This grant really allowed our fifth year to be bigger, better and gayer than ever before,” he said.
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That was the promise Gardner had made in 2022, after the first Youth Pride Picnic he was involved in attracted more than 200 people. Gardner’s service led to his nomination for 52 Faces of Community, the Fort Worth Report’s weekly series spotlighting unsung heroes in Tarrant County.
“I had been told to expect 50 to show up,” he said. “So when we had 200 attendees, I told them to expect the next year to be ‘bigger, better and gayer than ever,’ and I’ve tried to do that since.”
The event is key to the organization’s overarching mission to provide safe spaces for social and personal development of LGBTQ+ youth through physical and virtual programs in Fort Worth and North Texas, Gardner said.
“It’s a great way for LGBTQ youth to be in a space for everyone to feel affirmed and connected, and that’s not always easy for a lot of LGBTQ people, some of whom are coming from small towns and places where they may not find that support,” he said. “I didn’t have that growing up, but I want others to have that.”
For Sharon Herrera, founder and executive director of LGBTQ Saves, the growth of the organization and the success of the Youth Pride Picnic are the results of Gardner’s talents.
“He’s really blossomed and has been utilizing all his talents to maintain the data portion of our organization, which is something we needed,” she said. “We have grown this organization since 2010 and the people that I came across were helping as much as they could, but Bertie took it to my dream level is what I like to say.”
Gardner, 32, began his work in programming and events in college at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, where he eventually received his bachelor’s degree in communication studies with a focus in public relations and event management.
““We have grown this organization since 2010 and the people that I came across were helping as much as they could, but Bertie took it to my dream level is what I like to say.”
Sharon Herrera, founder and executive director of LGBTQ Saves
He came out as transgender in college where he was a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity.
“I was very active in our gay straight alliance,” he said.
When he moved from Stephenville to the Fort Worth campus, he was still looking for a community and a way to be involved.
“I wanted to be plugged into something where I can volunteer, give back to the community, because that’s really one of my big pillars, service,” he said.
A Google search brought him to LGBTQ Saves where he began as a volunteer.
In 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he moved into a more active role. But the pandemic put a damper on any in-person events which had been key to the organization.
“We had no real virtual presence before that. Bertie helped start our Discord events, which we call Lifeline Chat, and with that, we’ve been able now to reach out beyond our geographic borders,” said Herrera.
That’s become important, she said, as the current political climate has caused some LGBTQ families to move out of the area.
“But now because of what Bertie has done, we’re still able to serve them in several different states,” Herrera said.
Gardner, who still works full time at Texas Wesleyan University as assistant director of student activities and engagement, is continuing to sharpen his leadership skills.
He recently completed a Leading Edge program at Leadership Fort Worth and is ready to learn more.
“I loved it, getting to know more about Fort Worth,” he said. “I’m not usually a note taker, but there I was, I wanted to soak it all in.”
Herrera said she has seen Gardner grow his leadership skills.
“He came on as a volunteer, very shy, looking for a place to fit in,” she said. “He picked up on my focus on the kids and he’s made a lot of strides since then to become the leader he is.”
After the Youth Pride Picnic, Gardner will be tackling the organization’s 15th anniversary event.
“We’re going to be holding a quinceañera for ourselves,” he said. “I can’t wait to get started on it, but we’ve got to get through the picnic first.”
The problem of LGBTQ mental health remains a key focus of the organization.
“We may be in a more accepting generation, but the problem is still there,” Gardner said. “That may be even more true in smaller towns and places where there isn’t an accepting community.”
The next step for the organization is to transform the former KKK building at 1012 N. Main St. into a home for several nonprofit organizations, including LGBTQ Saves.
“We’re now the 11th-largest city in the country, but we don’t have any sort of concrete drop-in resource center outside of the HELP Center, but it’s not like Dallas or San Antonio or Houston where they have a big community center to come together,” Gardner said. “So being able to have a permanent place is a big goal with classrooms and computer labs or job centers. There’s still a lot to do.”
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
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