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A just-finished, rainbow-themed set of crosswalks at Main and Evergreen near San Antonio College is seen Wednesday, June 27, 2018.<\/p>\n
William Luther, Staff \/ San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Forced to remove rainbow crosswalks under a state edict to erase \u201cpolitical\u201d messages from their streets, some Texas cities are finding new and colorful ways to celebrate Pride and their LGBTQ+ communities.<\/p>\n
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In El Paso, street lamps have been wrapped in Pride flags. Dallas recently unveiled public library steps adorned in multicolor fashion. In Austin, residents last week painted hearts of all shades onto a downtown mural. All of the permanent displays channeled support for LGBTQ+ residents in the same spaces the crosswalks once memorialized.<\/p>\n
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Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the mural is meant to help Austin residents show solidarity with their LGBTQ+ neighbors while pushing back against the crosswalk removal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re going to do more to show our love and our respect and our appreciation for all of our people, and we’re going to do it in a way that’s clearly Austin,\u201d Watson said. \u201cA beauty of the mural was also that we could encourage others to come down and be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of Texas\u2019 major municipalities have used rainbow crosswalks to mark areas steeped in LGBTQ+ history. But after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Transportation to withhold federal and state road money unless local officials eliminated colorful road displays, cities are being more intentional as they find new ways to uplift LGBTQ+ residents.<\/p>\n
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Abbott\u2019s October order sought to promote safety by eliminating roadway art that might \u201cadvance political agendas\u201d and followed a directive from the Federal Highway Administration that established similar requirements.<\/p>\n
Many LGBTQ+ advocates believed the order targeted Pride-inspired rainbow crosswalks, but it also caused other designs to be removed, including painted yellow letters spelling \u201cBlack Artists Matter\u201d in Texas\u2019 first Black cultural heritage district in Austin, crosswalks honoring the Guadalupe River in Kerrville and others that are scheduled to be removed or are already gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Local officials could apply for exemptions to the removal order, but it\u2019s unclear whether any were granted by the state, and the transportation department denied all of the applications to keep rainbow crosswalks. The agency did not answer questions about whether any roadway art was granted an exemption.<\/p>\n
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Businesses and residents have also worked to restore color to intersections in lieu of now-banned rainbow crosswalks. In Dallas\u2019 Oak Lawn, recognized by the Texas Historical Commission for its LGBTQ+ history, the Methodist church steps were painted with rainbow colors days after Abbott issued his directive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The church stairway is now mirrored a few blocks over by freshly painted rainbow steps at the Oak Lawn Branch Library, unveiled Saturday. The steps are well within the city\u2019s jurisdiction and were painted by staff, Dallas City Council Member Paul Ridley said, but the funding came from private donations \u2014 the same way Dallas\u2019 crosswalks came about years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s as it should be, because the community wanted this, they were invested in this, and they came forward with the funds to paint the steps the way they wanted them painted,\u201d said Ridley, whose district includes the library. \u201cI’m proud of the community that’s behind this and put their money where their mouth is, basically.\u201d<\/p>\n
For LGBTQ+ advocates, city involvement in the new installations is a \u201cbare minimum\u201d show of support for communities under increasing political pressure.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is an attack on LGBTQ visibility and acceptance, and all the other crosswalks were just collateral damage,\u201d Brigitte Bandit, a longtime Texas LGBTQ+ rights activist, said during a farewell ceremony for a downtown Austin rainbow crosswalk last week.<\/p>\n
Amber Perez, executive director of El Paso\u2019s Borderland Rainbow Center, said local government support is crucial as some members of Texas\u2019 LGBTQ+ community feel targeted by the words and actions of statewide elected officials, like Abbott\u2019s order.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s one thing to get it from an organization that’s a community center like us, and it is a different thing to get that from your city and county,\u201d Perez said. \u201cIt’s saying that hey, our city and our county are also here for you. You are a member of our community. Your life matters to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disagreement on how hard to push back against the state\u2019s funding threats sparked tension between activists and elected officials. Speaking at the Austin ceremony, Bandit suggested Austin sought a state exemption to keep its rainbow crosswalk only after more than 5,000 people signed a petition urging action.<\/p>\n
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In San Antonio, the city paid roughly $170,000 to install new rainbow-painted sidewalks at the same intersection where it was forced to remove a colorful crosswalk. It was one of the first cities to install new rainbow art, but some community members believed the display didn\u2019t do enough to address the underlying rhetoric behind the crosswalk\u2019s removal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That tension culminated in an unsuccessful lawsuit against the city by a leading LGBTQ+ organization and a local conservative group \u2014 a flashpoint in the conflict that briefly added pressure from all sides. Ultimately, the city\u2019s rainbow sidewalks were unveiled in late March with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.<\/p>\n
Fresh paint and new flags are far from the end of the cities\u2019 and organizers\u2019 commitment to memorialize support for LGBTQ+ residents. Austin plans to install a historical marker in August to enshrine the area\u2019s importance as a longtime hub for the city\u2019s LGBTQ+ community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Dallas, 18 rainbow-wrapped bike racks were installed by the Cedar Springs Merchants Association, with a \u201cfun, campy ribbon cutting\u201d set for June 29. In El Paso, Perez said community organizers hope to install similar rainbow bike racks.<\/p>\n
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Austin plans to scrape its rainbow crosswalk off the downtown intersection by the end of July, according to a city memo sent to TxDOT. The new murals at Colorado and Fourth streets are intended to keep the area colorful, but Watson said it has also instilled a new vigilance in the community\u2019s support for its residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has created a focus that we can’t be complacent, and so we will continue to keep that focus,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n
Disclosure: Texas Historical Commission has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here.<\/p>\n
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