The Dallas Tavern Guild is meeting November 1st to discuss moving the Dallas Pride Festival and the Parade to Fair Park. Not only are they thinking of moving the Pride weekend events of over 45,000 people to Fair Park but the date from September to June.
Update: It’s happening folks. Dallas Pride Festival and Parade 2019 rumors are true they are officially moving.
Let’s dig into this issue a bit deeper and find out why Dallas Pride isn’t during the same pride month of San Francisco and New York City and Houston.
Why aren’t Dallas Pride events in June?
Pride started for many after the 1972 Stonewall riots in New York City. Dallas even had its own march downtown starting that year for gay rights with around 300 people which grew over the years to 3,000. In 1983, the Tavern Guild moved the parade from the usual June date to the third Sunday in September and renamed it the Texas Freedom Parade to commemorate Judge Jerry L. Buchmeyer’s ruling that first negated the Texas sodomy law. The judge’s decision was overturned later by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the parade remained a fall event in Dallas. The Dallas Tavern Guild’s original executive director (Alan Ross) who the parade was named after was one of the people who thought it should be held in September because of the Anti-Sodomy Law ruling keeping it true to Texas.
Reasons Not To Move The Parade to June or Fair Park:
1. It takes away from the authenticity of the Pride events when you take them out of Oaklawn (gayborhood).
2. Less traffic to the safe places on the LGBTQ strip such as the resturants, bars, and retailers in Oaklawn.
3. Dallas pride would never be able to compete with World Pride events, NYC Pride, San Francisco, and Houston that is held at night.
4. If people want a parade at the Fair they will probably go in October.
5. No one needs more parking we have Lyft and Uber and growing public transportation. Lyft even gave 35% off discounts for the pride events in 2018.
6. It will become even more commercialized that it is now with more sponsors losing the point of pride.
7. Corporate marketing budgets are limited and they may not want to take a risk on sponsoring a pride that is not consistent.
8 Fair Park will charge for everything including parking. The Lyft and Uber rides to Fair park will be enormous compared to thee Oaklawn area.
9. “The history, the fights and battles, the years of growing in the community and we want to move the Dallas Gay Pride Parade away from the “Gayborhood” to Fair Park? ”
10. “Keep it Alan Ross Freedom Parade not June Pride Month. It has more Meaning in September than June for Dallas (and Texas).”
11. We will miss celebrating pride twice.
Reasons To Move the Pride
1. Possible construction on the parade route in 2019
2. More Parking?
3. To grow the event with bigger sponsors to compete with other major cities.
4. Bigger Performers?
5. It’s something new.
6. The Tavern Guild could shut down pride as we know it due to increasing costs.
QueerBomb Already Has A Non-Commercial Pride in June
Founded in 2014 as an alternative to the commercialization of Gay Pride in Dallas, QueerBomb is a nonprofit organization that celebrates Pride Month with a series of events leading up to a rally, march and party during the last weekend of June.
Should Dallas LGBT+ Start Up A New Pride in September?
Pride is not an easy gig to run. The celebration is a full-time gig for some people who shop for corporate sponsors and book vendors. A 40-member steering committee works throughout the year fundraising and planning with city officials. Getting permits for parks and booking entertainment can certainly be a job that would not be easy to do without the Tavern Guild backing them up. QueerBomb in June is one example of a growing parade and festival that doesn’t have to bend to the Tavern Guild.
No Dallas Pride in 2019?
Michael Doughman, the Dallas Tavern Guild’s executive director told the Dallas Observer that interest in Dallas Pride has grown so much that if the guild were to move the parade and festival back to June, it would have to skip a year of Pride altogether. Doughman has been involved in planning for the past 18 years and has seen the costs to throw Pride each year rise from about $50,000-$60,000 at the turn of the century to about $200,000 these days. You have to ask would they skip the entire thing for a year (2019) to plan out their event at the Fair?
Update: We are told that this will not happen nor has it been mentioned as Michael Doughman is the former director.
As you can see on our Facebook page it stirred tons of controversy and critical responses. Not many were happy with the move to Fair park nor were they happy with moving the parade and festival to June.
The public forum will be held inside Station 4’s Rose Room at 6:30pm on November 1, 2018.
One of the comments on the event page for the public pride forum notes that Razzle Dazzle which brought in top performers that normally are not booked at pride was basically a ghost town.
I plan to be there. Razzle Dazzle Dallas didn’t work at Fair Park in June, so I don’t understand why we’d want to do Pride there. There are already lots of events in June locally (Bloomin’ Ball, MetroBall, Fairway to Equality, North Texas Pride, Juneteenth, Legacy Counseling events, GayBingo) and nationally (like every other Pride), why make it more difficult?
Another response to moving pride wants pride in the hands of the LGBTQ community instead of the bar owners.
Another response from David B. – I guess they can start planning the removal of this historical marker now that the Dallas Tavern Guild is choosing to take the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade (otherwise known as the Dallas Gay Pride Parade) from the Crossroads to Fair Park. According to some (Jason Bradberry) the gayborhood is being taken over by the straights anyway. Who want’s that sign up in the new Straightborhood. Poor Gay Community of Dallas. They are putting us behind walls at Fair Park now and I am sure it will soon dwindle to nothing! I guess you are getting your way Dallas Tavern Guild and all your supporters. (THIS IS A SARCASTIC POST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING). I am all for taking the Dallas Pride Parade away from the Dallas Tavern Guild and having it ran by those who care about Dallas and our gay pride and community pride. 😀 PROUD and GAY and support keeping the parade right where it is!
There is a Change.org petition that is out if you wish to keep pride in September and in Oaklawn but they will most likely not listen to that. The best thing is to show up and speak your mind at the forum.
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