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Crews restore the rainbow crosswalks at Westheimer and Taft in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood on Oct. 1, 2025. The crosswalks had been previously removed as part of road work on Westheimer Rd.<\/p>\n
Gwen howerton\/Chron.com<\/p>\n
Almost a year after Montrose’s iconic rainbow crosswalk was removed<\/a> at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s orders<\/a>, the neighborhood is going to get a little more colorful.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Thursday night, Pride Houston 365, the nonprofit that puts on Houston’s annual Pride parade, announced the return of the Montrose Banner District<\/a>. The special designation from the City of Houston will allow rainbow banners hung along Westheimer Road through Montrose.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Since last October, when construction crews removed, repainted and then re-removed Montrose’s rainbow crosswalk, activists have worked to bring another symbol of LGBTQ+ pride back to Houston’s historic gayborhood. In May, then Houston City Councilmember Abbie Kamin posted a video with Pride Houston President Kerry-Ann Morrison and longtime Houston gay activist Jack Valinski announcing an effort to revive the banner district. The district was originally established in the early 2000s, and rainbow banners were hung along Westheimer through Montrose to mark the historic route of Houston’s LGBTQ+ Pride parade.\u00a0<\/p>\n “This district was created around 2003, and it was used for many years, but forgotten about when the parade moved downtown,” Valinski said back in May<\/a>. “Now we want to bring it back, because Montrose is the historic part of our community.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Morrison said Valinski had been instrumental in getting the approval from the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Jack\u2019s commitment and dedication to this effort have been invaluable,” Morrison said in a statement.<\/a> “His passion for preserving this part of our history and his willingness to see this project through played a significant role in making this moment possible.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n At Houston City Council on Tuesday, Valinski thanked Houston Mayor John Whitmire for working to bring back the district.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Moving the banner district forward makes a lot of happiness to our community because we lost the rainbow crossing,” Valinski said. “Being able to have banners there along the 82 bus route, which is the busiest in the city, is going to show that we have some symbols.”<\/p>\n Joe Panzarella, the district’s newly elected city councilmember, told Chron that he was proud to be able to help bring LGBTQ+ pride symbols back to the neighborhood. In October, before he was elected,\u00a0Panzarella was among the many Houstonians who came out to protest the rainbow crosswalk’s removal. He described the revival of the banner district as “a real full circle moment.”<\/p>\n “To have protested the removal, but then be able to campaign on and actually bring to fruition something that is amazing and great and a source of pride for the\u00a0LGBTQ community, that’s been cool to see,” Panzarella said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The rainbow crosswalk at Westheimer and Taft in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood on Oct. 9, 2025. The rainbow is set to be removed some time in the next 30 days.<\/p>\n Gwen Howerton\/Chron.com<\/p>\n Pride Houston said it hopes that the banners will be installed by Aug. 15 when the rescheduled 48th Annual Houston Pride Parade will take place<\/a>. The parade had been scheduled for June, but storms forced organizers to find a new date<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Besides the newly revitalized Montrose Banner District, several other banner districts exist throughout Houston. The Houston Design District in west Houston, the Houston Southeast Cultural Arts & Entertainment District, and the Downtown Houston District all have banners hanging from utility poles that line the streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In October, Abbott, at the behest of right-wing activist Libs of TikTok, demanded that Texas cities remove “political” messages painted on public roads or lose state transportation funding. Cities around Texas scrambled to pave over rainbow crosswalks and other street art. In Houston, the rainbow crosswalk, which had been repainted during road work along Westheimer, was removed in the middle of the night after a lengthy standoff with activists who were arrested while blocking its removal. The charges were later dropped.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since removing the rainbow crosswalks, cities have tried to find other ways to commemorate historically LGBTQ+ neighborhoods. In San Antonio, the city painted sidewalks with the color of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag<\/a>. Street lamps in El Paso were wrapped with Pride flags<\/a>. Austin painted murals downtown and will later install a historical marker honoring the city’s LGBTQ+ history<\/a>. In Dallas, the city painted the steps of the Oak Lawn neighborhood library the colors of the rainbow, mirroring a nearby church<\/a>. And before the banners were hung, Houstonians took to the former site of the rainbow crosswalk to paint their own symbols of pride<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crews restore the rainbow crosswalks at Westheimer and Taft in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood on Oct. 1, 2025. 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