Photo illustration by Jordan Johnson<\/a><\/p>\nHouston resident Peggy Black, 38, still remembers the crowd that filled the backyard of the HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health & Wellness during Arlington\u2019s first Pride event. <\/p>\n
Surrounded by a sea of color stretching across a dirt-covered lot and rainbow flags dangling from the fence, Black said the event felt like home. <\/p>\n
After the initial event, Pride would continue to grow in Arlington, with the first event bringing in around 1,000 attendees, followed by around 5,200 the next year, 9,800 the following year, and capping out at around 15,600 in 2025, according to DeeJay Johannessen, CEO of the HELP Center for LGBT Health & Wellness. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat third year, it became an institution,\u201d Johannessen said. <\/p>\n
Arlington resident Samantha Raynes, 55, still remembers the intensity she felt at Arlington’s first Pride event, as protestors lined up outside the HELP Center gate, their noise drowned out by blaring music from inside. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo have Pride in my hometown, that\u2019s something I never thought we would see,\u201d Raynes said. <\/p>\n
Now, after four years of celebration, the sea of rainbow, community and acceptance that overtook Levitt Pavilion didn\u2019t materialize.<\/p>\n
Johannessen said the decision to cancel the event was difficult, but in February, when the modified version of the city\u2019s antidiscrimination chapter passed, Johannessen said he could not, in good conscience, invite guests to the city. <\/p>\n
The new chapter relies on federal legislation for protection, citing several Civil Rights Acts, and prohibits city officials from investigating reports of discrimination. Instead, residents facing discrimination will be provided with resources or redirected to a state or federal agency. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt that point, we had to think about safety, and that\u2019s why the decision to cancel it was made,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Dallas resident Ashley Benton, 40, and one of the vendors for Arlington Pride, said that while the event’s cancellation was unfortunate, she understands why it happened. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur Pride event was about celebration, was about our community, the ability to be who we are, where we live and just live in our own truths,\u201d Johannessen said. \u201cThere is a time for protest, and I\u2019m not against that, but Arlington Pride was about celebration.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the event remains suspended, Johannessen said that he and the center will be involved in Pride events in Tarrant County. He said he hopes that the event will return to the city. <\/p>\n
Although Arlington Pride is on pause, many traditions it created remain fresh in attendees’ memories.<\/p>\n
In the event’s short tenure, 1851, the city\u2019s only gay bar became a meeting space before and after the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always ended up at 1851,\u201d Black said. \u201cEnding Pride here is just almost like a natural thing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Club owner Dalton Haynes agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201c1851 is kind of a staple, a lot of people really know about it, and there are still so many out there that don\u2019t, but for those that do know about it, it kind of goes without saying that we were just the place to be after pride,\u201d Haynes said. <\/p>\n
Arlington, for some, provided a collegiate education and later, a space to celebrate their identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really proud of my community when they\u2019re celebrating Pride because it\u2019s like I love Arlington because I went to college here,\u201d Black said. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s just\u2026 there\u2019s so much support. <\/p>\n
On the main stage at Levitt Pavilion at Arlington Pride last year stood Fort Worth resident and drag queen Anthony Glover, 40, who performed as Nia Courtland. Glover shared the spotlight with RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Trixie Mattel. He said that although there were prolific drag queens at the event, the local queens were still treated with respect. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever drag queens are involved in Pride celebrations, from my personal experiences, I feel like we kind of get pushed to the back burner, and we were featured,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
For some in the community, Pride wasn\u2019t just a safe space but an event that accepted them with open arms.<\/p>\n
UTA alumnus Elwim Sorto walked into Arlington Pride 2025, holding his boyfriend’s hand, traversing shouts from hecklers. Sorto said the experience was interesting because, on one side, there was a sea of hate, but inside the event’s gates, smiling faces welcomed him. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as weirdness when it comes to Pride,\u201d Sorto said. \u201cThe androgyny is so welcomed, and it makes the little boy in me when I was little and trying to understand why I was and what I was feeling so validated, it makes me so pure and so fulfilled with life.\u201d <\/p>\n
Glover, who has been doing drag for 22 years, said he had never been a part of an event so massive but still felt intimate. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was there for Pride,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was like an energy that almost felt palpable.\u201d <\/p>\n
Draped in a fabric that featured the aquatic colors of the man-loving-man flag, Arlington resident Quinnivene Haith, 21, walked into the 2023 Arlington Pride feeling nervous, noting the number of people and size of the event seemed like something he\u2019d seen on television from Los Angeles or New York Pride events. <\/p>\n
Once inside, Haith said the nerves dissipated, replaced by candy, bracelets and kind words from strangers. People and vendors lined the lawn of Levitt Pavilion, watching the stage in anticipation, flags representing every individual in the LGBTQ + community waved wildly in the wind from the pavilion’s balcony. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the first time that I had ever been around so many other queer people, and I felt seen and heard and people automatically just understood who I am,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
@tay._.sansom<\/p>\n
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