Three years ago a report from the Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD, a national LGBTQ+ advocacy nonprofit, found at least 356 incidents motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ hate across the U.S. from June 2022 to April 2023 — 305 incidents of harassment, 40 incidents of vandalism and 11 incidents of assault, according to the report.
We don’t know the actual current figures, but getting more anti-gay news out of Texas is getting worse all the time. The latest controversy has exploded just outside Dallas-Fort Worth following a city council’s sudden and unexplained decision to refuse an event permit to a local LGBTQ Pride festival. But the difference this time is that organizers plan to fight what they say looks like an overt act of discrimination. They issued a statement saying, “this may feel like a message of ‘you don’t belong here,’ but the thing is, we absolutely do. We’re not going away, we’re pivoting and bringing more joy to the community.”
“Southlake City Council voted unanimously to deny Pride Kel-So’s mass gathering permit — no questions asked, no concerns raised, no reason given. Not a single word of explanation. Just a clean, silent no,” organizers posted to Facebook over the weekend.
The event is a combined celebration for the towns of Keller and Southlake. It was to be hosted at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, but because of the event’s size and scale, organizers needed a mass-gathering permit from local officials. The event, originally slated for Oct. 3, will be moved to April, and a smaller event will be held on the original October date instead.
Generally speaking, a government body denying a permit for a gathering because of objections to the viewpoints it might express is considered a violation of organizers’ First Amendment rights. However, organizers have not announced intentions to sue the Council over the vote.
For now, they remain laser-focused on planning more LGBTQ community events.
“Somewhere in Keller or Southlake, there’s a queer kid sitting in their room right now, trying to figure out if this town has a place for them,” organizers said. “And there’s a quiet neighbor — maybe a parent, maybe a teacher, maybe someone who’s never set foot at a Pride event, watching what happens next and deciding whether to speak up or stay silent. This is for them.”
We have a duty to both the current and future generations to fight back against all discrimination: in and out of Texas.
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