After Houston’s transportation agency announced that it would remove a rainbow crosswalk in Montrose to comply with an order from the state, Houston leaders and LGBTQ+ advocates slammed the decision. Houston Mayor John Whitmire was silent.
Now, he’s speaking out.
Whitmire was noticeably absent from a Tuesday press conference that was attended by Houston City Council Members, Harris County Commissioners, and several Texas State Representatives and Senators. Several speakers at that press conference called on Whitmire to do something. In a meeting of Houston City Council on Wednesday morning, Whitmire called Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to remove the rainbow crosswalk “manufactured” and “counterproductive.”
“This was a man-made issue. Nothing was broken. Governor Abbott joined because he’s a very ambitious governor who is looking at the presidential race,” Whitmire said. “The stripes have been in place for eight years of his administration. I’ve had contact with him. It’s never been an issue.”
Whitmire said that the crosswalk, painted in 2017 in memory of Alex Hill, a 21-year-old resident who was killed in a hit-and-run at the intersection of Westheimer and Taft in Montrose, was an important symbol. He called the crosswalk a “non-issue.”
“To politicize something so important is just counterproductive,” Whitmire said of the crosswalk controversy.
Whitmire, who won a Harvey Milk award in 1993 for his efforts to decriminalize gay sex, repeatedly brought up his bonafides as a champion for the LGBTQ+ community during his more than 50 years in the Texas Legislature. Whitmire said that “recent arrivals to Houston in the press and in our community” were downplaying his defense of the community, which he said included defending “transgender families and their healthcare on the Senate floor.”
Mayor John Whitmire at Houstons 2025 Pride Parade. (Gwen Howerton)
“There’s probably a young man in Pasadena this morning, a gay young man, that hasn’t come out of the closet, and the rainbow means something to him. It’s not just the Montrose community. It’s our region, it’s our state, it’s our society,” Whitmire said.
At the same time, however, Whitmire also said that a fight with Abbott over the rainbow crosswalk was one the city couldn’t afford to fight because of the state and federal funding that the City of Houston relies on. Whitmire noted that he was “welcome to any suggestion” on how to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in Houston, but stressed that the city “has to stay away from public property to not jeopardize most of our department’s funding.”
“They will come after it. Health department. Criminal justice. Housing,” Whitmire said.
Whitmire engaged in a back-and-forth with City Council Member Abbie Kamin, who represents the Montrose area. Kamin raised concerns that the city was complying with what she called “inappropriate state overreach into local control.”
“I do think it is important as a city that we are looking at what can be done on city property,” Kamin said. “The state does not have a right to say we cannot do something on our own property, and if we do, we should be legally challenging that. This is about the people in our communities that need us now more than ever.”
The rainbow crosswalk at Westheimer and Taft in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood on Oct. 9, 2025. The rainbow is set to be removed some time in the next 30 days. (Gwen Howerton/Chron.com)
Whitmire countered, saying he was working with his new LGBTQ Advisory Board to find solutions to make queer Houstonians feel seen and supported. (The mayor removed all the members of the board earlier this summer and announced new members in August.) He said that any legal action against the state of Texas is “a battle we would lose,” and that he wanted to find a solution that preserves federal and state funding that Houston relies on.
“It’s my responsibility to bring a resolution to this, together, that will keep Houston protected,” Whitmire said. “We got more park money this year than ever before. I’m 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.”
Whitmire also said that symbols of the LGBTQ+ community are important not just in Montrose, but in other parts of the city. At one point, he suggested that there may actually be more queer residents in other parts of the city than in Montrose.
“It’s not just Montrose-it’s the entire city. The LGBTQ+ community that you proudly represent, along with me, probably have more members in Oak Forest, or certainly the Heights, as we cross the city,” Whitmire said.
City Council Member Mario Castillo, who is openly gay, thanked the mayor for looking for solutions, but emphasized Montrose as the heart of Houston’s gay community, pointing to Westheimer through Montrose as the former site of the city’s Pride Parade.
“It’s also where the Pride Parade used to end, at Westheimer and Taft. That was a parade that we fought really hard to get. We faced setbacks, we faced attacks, but we got it, in the heart of Montrose,” Castillo said. “These tributes to the community that are now being targeted, they have so much more meaning than just paint.”
Whitmire thanked Castillo for his comments and his leadership but maintained his belief that it was important to look for “alternatives that will represent the community, short of risking or losing our funding.” Whitmire again touted his credentials and pointed to his age. (While Whitmire said he attended the first-ever Houston Pride Parade in 1981, various parades celebrating gay pride were held in Montrose beginning in 1976.)
“I was proud to have been in the very first Pride Parade in 1981,” Whitmire said. “I still miss it down Westheimer.”
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This article originally published at Houston mayor won’t ‘jeopardize’ city funding over rainbow crosswalk.