City of Dallas officials today (Wednesday, March 11) notified North Texas LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce President Tony Vedda that the rainbow crosswalk at the intersection of Oak Lawn Avenue and Cedar Springs is slated for removal next week. But, Vedda said, the crosswalk is not being removed just because Gov. Greg Abbott said to.

According to a Chamber of Commerce statement released early this evening, “Ongoing resurfacing and maintenance work along Oak Lawn Boulevard has now reached Cedar Springs Road, and the city of Dallas has informed community leaders that the rainbow crosswalk at Cedar Springs and Oak Lawn will be removed as part of the project.”

But Vedda added, while city officials “informed us that this necessary work will require the rainbow crosswalk … to be removed,” the removal “is unrelated to the state’s directive requiring the city to eliminate non-standard crosswalks.”

The press release explains that the LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce Foundation, with support from the community and local corporate partners, raised the funds to have the first rainbow crosswalks installed in 2020. As those original crosswalks began to deteriorate, the chamber foundation again teamed up with community and corporate supporters to have new, more durable rainbow crosswalks installed, beginning in June last year.

Then in October, shortly after the installations were complete, Abbott issued an edict that all “non-standard” crosswalks in state that, according to him, were deemed to “express a political ideology” must be removed, or the state would withhold federal funding from cities where those crosswalks were located. LGBTQ community leaders and supportive city officials in Dallas fought back, as did officials in San Antonio, asking for exemptions from Abbott’s order and managing to delay removal of the crosswalks.

Those efforts fell short, however, and rainbow crosswalks in San Antonio’s Pride Cultural Heritage District were removed before the end of the year. The community there, however, responded by installing rainbows on the sidewalks in that district instead.

In Dallas, businesses and organizations on The Strip began responding by painting various forms of rainbows on the facades of their buildings and hanging flags and banners. Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, at the corner of Oak Lawn and Cedar Springs, made headlines around the globe when church leaders had the wide front steps leading up to the front door of the historic church sanctuary painted in bright, bold rainbow colors.

While Abbott’s order encompassed all non-standard crosswalk designs, including crosswalks in Lubbock honoring Buddy Holly and crosswalks featuring student art in Bedford, it was obvious that Abbott’s main target was rainbow crosswalks, and the other designs were simply collateral damage.

Jason Preston, left, and Chad Mantooth of the Cedar Springs Merchants Association install one of the new rainbow-colored banners going up along The Strip starting today.

Abbott also claimed that “non-standard” crosswalks are a safety hazard, although studies have clearly shown that safety has improved at intersections where rainbow crosswalks were installed, including such intersections on Cedar Springs Road.

Now that the first of Cedar Springs’ rainbow crosswalks is set to be demolished within the next week or so, and Vedda acknowledged that the others along The Strip are likely to follow very soon. But, he stressed, “community partners are already working on new ways to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride in the Cedar Springs district.”

“Although the remaining rainbow crosswalks along Cedar Springs will likely be removed in the near future, the LGBTQ Chamber Foundation, the Cedar Springs Merchants Association and the Dallas LGBTQ Task Force are developing new expressions of the LGBTQ+ community that will far outshine any crosswalks and continue to show the Cedar Springs district as vibrant and welcoming.”

In fact, the Cedar Springs Rainbow Wars of 2026 are already underway, as the Cedar Springs Merchants Association began installing rainbow-colored banners up and down The Strip today, with more to come next week.

— Tammye Nash

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