Without the drag queens, community vendors and rainbow displays typical of Arlington Pride each June, city officials and LGBTQ+ leaders expressed a mixture of uncertainty and cautious optimism for their evolving relationship.<\/p>\n
The annual festival usually marks Tarrant County\u2019s largest, most public celebration of Pride Month. This June marks the first since 2021 without an Arlington Pride event.<\/p>\n
Organizers announced the cancellation<\/a> in December, saying the event would remain suspended unless Arlington City Council reinstated antidiscrimination policies explicitly protecting LGBTQ+ residents. The cancellation followed the council\u2019s 5-4 vote against reinstating<\/a> an antidiscrimination ordinance initially passed in 2021.<\/p>\n In an interview in early June, event organizer DeeJay Johannessen said he stands by the decision last year to cancel the event. Johannessen is the CEO of the HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health, which hosts Arlington Pride.<\/p>\n \u201cI regretted having to make that decision \u2014 not the decision itself \u2014 because no matter what, we owe people safety,\u201d Johannessen said. \u201cIf anything had happened because we went forward with it, that\u2019s the thing I could never get over.\u201d<\/p>\n Canceling Arlington Pride hurts the city\u2019s LGBTQ+ residents more than it sends a message to the city, Arlington Mayor Jim Ross said, adding that he nonetheless understands the decision to protest the ordinance suspension.<\/p>\n \u201cPride was bringing people from everywhere,\u201d Ross said. \u201c I am still convinced we are a very inclusive city, and in spite of the changes we\u2019ve been having to make, so I hope we can get back to Pride coming back one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, Arlington Pride drew about 15,000<\/a> to the Levitt Pavilion\u2019s lawn for an evening of free festivities including performances from Trixie Mattel and Ginger Minj, former RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race performers.<\/p>\n Pride Month, observed<\/a> annually in June, honors the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattan, a series of demonstrations by the LGBTQ+ community in response to the police raid on the Stonewall Inn gay bar.<\/p>\n Johannessen faced a range of responses after canceling the event: Some expressed full support and sympathy, while others called to shift the event\u2019s focus. Although he\u2019s not opposed to protesting as a Pride demonstration, Johannessen said he didn\u2019t want to shift the festival \u201cfrom a celebration to a protest then hopefully back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe culture of Arlington Pride has always been a celebration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The festival launched in 2021 as a small, intimate picnic outside the HELP Center in downtown. It quickly grew, which Johannessen and others noted as a sign of support for Tarrant\u2019s LGBTQ+ community as the event drew attendees from across North Texas.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was an amazing growth in such a short amount of time … and that shows that people really do love having a Pride (festival) in Arlington,\u201d said Arlington resident Roger Calderon, the board president of Trinity Pride Fest, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ Pride festival held annually in Fort Worth\u2019s Near Southside.<\/p>\n If you go<\/p>\n What: Trinity Pride Fest<\/p>\n When: 6-11 p.m. June 27<\/p>\n Where: South Main Street, Fort Worth<\/p>\n Cost: Free<\/p>\n More information can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The monthslong saga concerning the antidiscrimination ordinance began with an executive order issued in January 2025 from President Donald Trump, which railed against programs deemed \u201cradical and wasteful.\u201d That order included a federal directive threatening cities\u2019 federal grants if they were to keep diversity, equity and inclusion programs.<\/p>\n The directive forced an evaluation of all city programs, Ross said, and the ordinance was found to not be in compliance.<\/p>\n In September, city council voted 6-2 to suspend the ordinance and adjust the language behind the Unity Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n In February, the council voted to bring a new version<\/a> of the ordinance back. Unlike the previous ordinance, that version did not contain explicit protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, or a stipulation that local officials investigate discrimination complaints.<\/p>\n Ross said the second option brought to the council, to reinstate the ordinance with a clause to suspend it if deemed legally necessary, was the best solution.<\/p>\n \u201cI was outvoted,\u201d Ross said. \u201cWe lost that 5-4, so then I was left with a couple of options: do nothing at all and allow it to remain suspended, or try to find a compromise of sorts.\u201d<\/p>\n Arguments against bringing the ordinance back at the time ranged from whether it provided the protections that supporters claimed it had to whether it was the municipality\u2019s right to step in.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe this is a governance decision,\u201d council member Bowie Hogg said before the February vote. \u201cI do not believe an ordinance is effective. I do not believe it\u2019s enforceable, and I believe it gives false hope and false protections to people, especially when we\u2019ve balanced that with what legal opinions we\u2019ve received.\u201d<\/p>\n City officials have maintained an appearance of support for the LGBTQ+ community. On June 1, a post<\/a> from the city\u2019s Facebook account saying Arlington is \u201cproud to be a welcoming, diverse community\u201d drew over a thousand comments from both pro- and anti-LGBTQ+ residents.<\/p>\n Some referenced Arlington Pride\u2019s suspension and the antidiscrimination ordinance\u2019s changes. In response, Ross promised the lack of an ordinance hadn\u2019t changed his desire to have a city that welcomes everybody.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to change my behavior because of the necessity of having to change the antidiscrimination ordinance,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n The mayor often attended Arlington Pride, where he\u2019d present a mayoral proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month onstage at the Levitt Pavilion. This year, he made the proclamation inside council chambers June 9.<\/p>\n Ross is cautiously optimistic about bringing a Pride event back to Arlington.<\/p>\n \u201cI love what the HELP Center has done for this city, but I\u2019ll tell you, the HELP Center and DeeJay don\u2019t represent the entire LGBTQ+ community,\u201d Ross said. \u201cI have a lot of friends who will say, \u2018Listen, we wish Pride was still here,\u2019 and I\u2019m hoping we can bring it back. If it\u2019s not through the HELP Center, maybe it\u2019s another way, but I\u2019m optimistic. We have some people who are excited about it, and I think it\u2019s an important part of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n Emphasizing that \u201ceven in the best of times, running a Pride organization in Texas is not easy,\u201d Calderon said he is disappointed to see a backslide in support for the community.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, county commissioners voted 3-2 against a resolution<\/a> to honor the HELP Center as the county\u2019s largest health center focused on LGBTQ+ services. In addition to sponsoring Arlington Pride and hosting other community events and fundraisers throughout the year, the center administered more than $70 million worth of medication, clinical services and supportive care to 7,000 patients in 2025.<\/p>\n Democratic county commissioner Alisa Simmons, who represents Arlington but is seeking<\/a> the countywide judge seat, said she introduced the resolution to \u201chonor an organization that has improved lives across Tarrant County.\u201d Republican County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare, who faces Simmons on the November ballot<\/a>, voted against the resolution with the two GOP commissioners, saying he didn\u2019t want to put the Tarrant County \u201cname and seal behind a divisive social agenda that glorifies a group that supports transitioning children.\u201d<\/p>\n Although saddened by the loss of Arlington Pride, Calderon said he understands and supports the decision to cancel by the HELP Center, which sponsors Trinity Pride. He expects the smaller Fort Worth festival to naturally absorb some of the Arlington event\u2019s would-be attendance but urges LGBTQ+ residents and allies to continue Pride beyond the June festivities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe may not have a celebration the second week of June in Arlington, but how we show up as a community is by showing up at these meetings. It\u2019s by making our voices heard,\u201d Calderon said. \u201cSometimes I feel like that is getting lost, it\u2019s getting lost in the big showy event of Pride and not in the daily work that it takes to maintain pride throughout the year.\u201d<\/p>\n Johannessen wants more LGBTQ+ residents to become \u201cstrategically civilly engaged,\u201d noting that all Tarrant voters have county, state and federal representatives on the November ballot. Beyond the midterm elections and next year\u2019s mayoral and council races, he emphasized a need for more active participation in the volunteer boards and commissions advising city leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important thing is for us to show up and be present on a day-to-day basis. We\u2019re not going to change certain elected officials\u2019 minds,\u201d Johannessen said.<\/p>\n Ross said that he can\u2019t speak for other county or city officials when it comes to the county\u2019s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, but that he is committed to making people feel welcome in Arlington, and he thinks most residents feel that way too.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t hide or try to suppress my desire to be inclusive of all people \u2014 Black, Latinos, Muslims, Asians, gays, straights, Christians, Buddhists,\u201d Ross said. \u201cI don\u2019t care. I\u2019m not ashamed of the fact that I believe we\u2019re all God\u2019s creatures, and I think I\u2019m very confident that the majority of Arlington feels the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chris Moss is a reporter for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@arlingtonreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Without the drag queens, community vendors and rainbow displays typical of Arlington Pride each June, city officials and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-349170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}