(The law wouldn’t officially come off the books until 2003 when the Supreme Court struck them down in every state.) Then in 2019, Pride festivities and the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade moved away from the Oak Lawn entertainment district to Fair Park-a decision that split the community despite its popular return to June in honor of Stonewall's 50th anniversary. Three years later, as the parade grew in size and visibility, the traditional June celebration month was ditched in favor of a (hopefully breezier) September fest commemorating the late-summer judicial ruling, albeit brief, that overturned Texas’ sodomy law. After the LGBTQ+ community’s first small-but-significant march shocked many a closed-minded local in 1972-a mere three years after the Stonewall riots in New York City-the city saw very few Pride-related festivities until the next parade in 1980.
Dallas Pride has had more dramatic twists in its nearly 50-year history than all of Bridegerton, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Ryan Murphy’s fever dreams combined.
