The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began removing rainbow Pride and Black Lives Matter crosswalks in Dallas this week, after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered their removal last year, claiming they pose traffic safety hazards.<\/p>\n
Removal on 30 decorative crosswalks across northern Texas began on Monday, starting with rainbow crosswalks in Dallas\u2019 Oak Lawn gayborhood, NBC affiliate KXAS<\/a> reported. The North Texas LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce paid for the crosswalks through a 2019 fundraising campaign supported by community members and LGBTQ+ organizations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was funded by the community. And then to have taxpayer dollars be used to remove it, it doesn’t make any sense,\u201d Dallas resident D.R. Hanson told KXAS. \u201cWhen I see us trying to be visible and to have that taken away, it\u2019s disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n Abbott ordered the removal of LGBTQ+ Pride, Black Lives Matter, and other decorative crosswalks in October 2025, in a statement<\/a> that falsely implied the crosswalks were paid for with taxpayer dollars. The governor said his goal was to \u201cremove any and all political ideologies from our streets,\u201d and claimed the crosswalks risked distracting motorists. (Texas also updated its Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices<\/a> last year to ban \u201cpolitical or advocacy messages of any nature\u201d from aesthetic road surfaces.) Noncompliant cities would face \u201cwithholding or denial of state and federal road funding and suspension of agreements\u201d with TxDOT, Abbott vowed.<\/p>\n Dallas officials applied<\/a> for an exemption to Abbott\u2019s directive last year, but that request was denied in January, per The Texan<\/a>. The Office of Arts and Culture is reportedly planning alternate replacements for the crosswalks, including public art projects, according to KXAS. The office\u2019s first community engagement meeting on the subject is scheduled for April 6.<\/p>\n Officials in Houston also abruptly removed a rainbow crosswalk<\/a> following Abbott\u2019s directive last October, just over a week after it had been repainted. That crosswalk was painted in 2017 as a memorial to a 21-year-old<\/a> who was killed at the intersection.<\/p>\n TxDOT also ordered the removal of a rainbow crosswalk in San Antonio last year. The city responded by approving two more such crosswalks at a different intersection, construction on which began in January<\/a>. (Three more were removed in Austin in February, but those crosswalks were part of a separate federal research project and were ordered removed by the Federal Highway Administration, KUTX<\/a> reported.)<\/p>\n Shortly after Abbott issued his directive last year, members of the Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, which is located nearby the rainbow crosswalk removed this week, painted a rainbow on the church\u2019s steps<\/a> to protest the removals.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen forces of power try to erase symbols of queer joy and inclusion, the Church has a choice \u2014 to retreat into comfort or to step forward in courage. We\u2019re choosing courage,\u201d the church\u2019s senior pastor Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n