Rob Salinas/Houston Public Media
Houston Mayor John Whitmire at the 2024 Houston Pride Parade.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire called the removal of rainbow crosswalks in Montrose “a manufactured issue” at the behest of the federal government and an “ambitious” Gov. Greg Abbott. In his first public comments on the controversy, Whitmire also indicated that a legal challenge would be “a battle we would lose.”
“This was a manmade issue,” Whitmire said during Wednesday’s Houston City Council meeting. “Nothing was broken. Governor Abbott joined because he’s a very ambitious governor, looking at the presidential race. The stripes have been in place for the last eight years of his administration. I’ve had contact with him. It’s never been an issue. It was a manufactured issue, but it’s a real one.”
Whitmire spoke for more than 10 minutes on the crosswalks’ pending removal by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO), based on a directive by Abbott. Whitmire had previously been criticized by some for not commenting publicly, including by hecklers during a Tuesday news conference held by city council member Abbie Kamin.
Kamin praised Whitmire for speaking on the matter Wednesday.
“I understand the position that the city is being put in, but if we do not do something now, what will they threaten us with next?” Kamin said. “And so I would hope that we are able to explore opportunities like other cities are doing to submit for safety exceptions for the crosswalk, because that is an option.”
Kamin also opened the door to possible legal action or a rapid development of the Montrose area as a historical heritage district, which could protect the area for its “character-defining elements” such as the rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of Westheimer Road and Taft Street, which were installed in 2017 to celebrate the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
Whitmire said such challenges could lead to political backlash.
“That’s a battle we would lose,” he said. “We can do what we want to. Abbott has a veto, a line-item veto. So everything we were successful in getting this year and plan to get in the future would be in jeopardy. And beyond jeopardy, they would be cut.”
He added later on that he was “not going to jeopardize that when we can use other means to show our support for those that support and are passionate about the symbol of the rainbow.”
The rainbow crosswalks had been repainted this month after a temporary removal for construction. That drew the attention of Abbott and other conservative voices, prompting an order from Abbott directing the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to remove murals and artwork with such depictions.
Hours after that memo, METRO announced that it would comply with the order and remove the crosswalks.
“I got a call from a highway commissioner last week saying not Abbott but the Secretary of Transportation [Sean Duffy] had notified transport that if we didn’t remove the rainbow crosswalks that we would lose our federal funding,” Whitmire said. “METRO is going to get over a billion (dollars) in the next five years. We have ongoing projects.”
A protest about the removal is expected to take place at the rainbow crosswalks on Sunday. Kamin encouraged Houstonians to attend a Families with Pride event at Discovery Green on Saturday.
A spokesperson for METRO told Houston Public Media there was no set date for the rainbow crosswalks’ removal.
Houston Public Media’s Dominic Anthony Walsh contributed to this report.