{"id":12494,"date":"2025-10-20T17:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/12494\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T17:02:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T17:02:07","slug":"houston-erased-texas-first-ever-gay-pride-crosswalk-in-the-middle-of-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/12494\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Erased Texas\u2019 First-Ever Gay Pride Crosswalk in the Middle of the Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pile of broken, colorful concrete pieces was all that remained of Houston\u2019s rainbow crosswalk as the sun rose on Monday. Construction crews tore up Texas\u2019 first gay pride crosswalk<\/a>, a beloved feature of the historically LGBT<\/a> Montrose neighborhood, in the early hours of the morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The crosswalk, which originated<\/a> as a memorial for a cyclist killed there in a 2016 hit-and-run, first came under fire<\/a> a few weeks ago when the city repainted it following construction<\/a> in the area. Online right-wing account Libs of TikTok ripped a video from the Chron covering the repainting and called<\/a> for the crosswalk\u2019s removal, tagging Gov. Greg Abbott and seemingly kickstarting his crackdown on rainbow crosswalks across the state.<\/p>\n

Now, the colorful crossing has been torn up yet again, after Gov. Abbott directed TxDOT on Oct. 8 to withhold funding<\/a> from cities who did not remove \u201cpolitical ideologies\u201d from roadways. TxDOT doubled down<\/a> on Abbott\u2019s order, instructing cities to remove any of these installations within 30 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThem coming back and taking it all up just seems a bit ridiculous,\u201d said Tessa Freeman, owner of FIX Coffeebar on Westheimer, a few storefronts down from the crosswalk. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople love the crosswalk,\u201d Freeman told The Barbed Wire. \u201cI think it had an impact on other states wanting to do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Montrose rainbow crosswalk was painted in 2017, many<\/a> more<\/a> sprung up around the state that are now in various stages of removal<\/a>. Houston advocacy groups posted<\/a> last night that the crosswalk would be removed between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m and called for community members to come \u201cguard the intersection and mourn its removal.\u201d Protestors gathered and refused to move from the rainbow crosswalk as work crews prepared machinery, according to Chron<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"After\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Houston Police and METRO Police were on the scene, Chron reported, but no arrests were made until the arrival of Houston Police\u2019s Special Response Team<\/a>, officers that are specially trained in large crowd dispersal, disaster preparedness and chemical munitions.<\/p>\n

Officers arrested four protestors for blocking the roadway, HPD Public Information Officer Shay Awosiyan confirmed to The Barbed Wire. Officers first zip-tied a woman in a folding chair who, according to Chron<\/a>, had been reading Herbert Marcuse\u2019s \u201cCounterrevolution and Revolt\u201d throughout the protest. They also arrested activist Ethan Hale, a long-shot Houston City Council candidate, according to Chron<\/a>, and two other unknown individuals.<\/p>\n

Despite the arrests \u2014 and fevered opposition to the removals across the state, which is home to 1.8 million queer people<\/a> \u2014 the removals are happening because of Abbott\u2019s funding threats. But also because of messaging from the Trump administration, which has become increasingly hostile<\/a> to queer and trans Americans<\/a> as it has waged culture wars against vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n

As that messaging has taken hold, some Texans cheered on the decision online. Richard Rathbun, who lives in Katy but regularly visits the historically queer Montrose area, told The Barbed Wire that the crosswalk \u201cdoesn\u2019t bother me, but I don\u2019t appreciate it.\u201d Speaking from the nearby coffeeshop, he said, \u201cI\u2019m a Christian, and I really don\u2019t like celebrating homosexuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar sentiments online were<\/a> met with ire<\/a>, from \u201cSad responses on here by even sadder people who likely call themselves Christians\u201d to \u201cYeah let\u2019s literally scrape away one of the few things still fighting the \u2018Houston is flat and beige allegations.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMontrose\u2019s rainbow crosswalk is more than a symbol of LGBTQ community pride,\u201d State Rep. Gene Wu, who represents Houston, said last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur communities will not stay silent,\u201d Wu added. \u201cWe will fight back against this attack on local control and vulnerable communities who deserve safety, dignity, and visibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, one of the first openly LGBTQ mayors of a major American city, told NBC News<\/a> she was \u201csurprised that the governor has so little to do that erasing rainbow crosswalks has become his priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Libs of TikTok, which seemed to instigate Abbott\u2019s funding threats<\/a>, was tied to ten hate incidents over two years in Texas, including bomb threats that were lobbed at four Planet Fitness locations after she highlighted their trans-inclusive locker room policies, according to GLAAD\u2019s\u00a0ALERT Desk (Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Cool!\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Fellow Texans, it\u2019s our sad duty to report that our governor appears to be taking his marching orders from a right-wing social media account (and, yes, we\u2019re talking about \u2026 sigh \u2026 Libs of TikTok).\u2026<\/p>\n

Across the country, as rainbow crosswalks are painted over<\/a>, hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community<\/a> have continued to rise. And queer Texans have voiced disappointment that local leaders aren\u2019t stepping up in their defense \u2014 at least outside of San Antonio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the city\u2019s METRO department announced the impending removal, Houston Mayor John Whitmire called Abbott\u2019s order \u201ccounterproductive\u201d in a city council meeting, according to Chron.<\/a> However, the mayor ultimately said that the city could not afford to risk losing their funding over the crosswalk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can use other means to show our support for those that support and are passionate about the symbol of the rainbow,\u201d Whitmire said at the meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other Montrose residents seem to share the belief that the fight for LGBT representation in Houston is far from over.<\/p>\n

Next to the ravaged crosswalk this morning remained messages chalked in rainbow by the protestors on the adjacent sidewalks, reading \u201cdon\u2019t erase us\u201d and \u201cwe are lucky to witness queer love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the people of Montrose are resilient,\u201d Freeman, the coffeeshop owner, told The Barbed Wire. \u201cIt will be interesting to see what comes after this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\t