Buttigieg
January
• Ministry with the Aging Inc., a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, donated a total of $130,000 to Coalition of Aging LGBT, Resource Center and AIDS Services of Dallas • Christian Colbert pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison in connection with the murder of his former landlord and housemate • Samantha Smoot was named interim executive director of Equality Texas • AIN opened the new Daire Center near the agency’s offices at 2600 N. Stemmons Freeway.
February
• South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced he was running for president • The Carrollton City Council approved an employment nondiscrimination ordinance that includes protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity • Avery Belyeu was named South Central Regional director for Lambda Legal • The United Methodist Church voted to continue its prohibition on LGBTQ weddings and ministers during a special meeting of the general conference in St. Louis.
Michael Doughma
March
• Arttitude announced that it would be sponsoring a mural on a building wall on Cedar Springs to honor trans activist and commemorate the Stonewall Riots • Black Tie Dinner officials announced they had chosen 16 local organizations and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as beneficiaries for their 2019 event • The Dallas Mavericks celebrated their first-ever LGBT Pride Night.
April
• Oak Lawn Park, formerly known as Lee Park, was renamed Turtle Creek Park, despite efforts by some in the LGBTQ community to make Oak Lawn Park the permanent name • The Texas Senate approved SB 17, which would allow professionals, including health care professionals, to discriminate based on their “sincerely-held religious beliefs” • Officials with Prism Health North Texas and Oak Lawn Physicians group announced that OLPG would be merging with Prism • National LGBTQ Task Force launched Creating Change 2020 with a host committee party • Transgender woman Muhlaysia Booker was badly beaten in the parking lot of her apartment complex by a group of men as onlookers laughed and egged the men on. Video of the attack went viral, prompting outrage nationwide • Mack Campbell, aka Marsha Dimes, and Jeff Roose, aka Jenni P, were named Grand Marshals of the 2019 Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade • Resource Center opened a new dental clinic in northeast Dallas • The Anthony Bobrow Trust, represented by Harvey Meissner, donated $25,000 to Dallas Hope Charities.
May
• The United Methodist Church’s judicial council upheld an earlier vote requiring the UMC to continue forbidding ordination of LGBTQ ministers and forbidding Methodist ministers from performing same-sex weddings • CW33 announced plans to broadcast live from the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade • Gay men Adam Medrano and Omar Narvaez were re-elected to the Dallas City Council, and Chad West was elected to his first term. Lesbian Erin Moore made a runoff in her bid for the council • AARP sponsored the very first Miss Ageless Pride drag pageant • The Texas Senate passed SB 1978 prohibiting the government from taking any “adverse action” against someone based on that person’s affiliation with or support of a religious organization, a week after lesbian state Rep. Julie Johnson used a procedural tactic to kill the House version of the bill • Dallas trans woman Muhlaysia Booker was found shot to death in the middle of an East Dallas street • The Anthony Bobrow Trust ends its first year in existence having donated $600,000 • The 86th Texas Legislature came to a close with LGBTQ enemies managing to pass only one anti-LGBTQ bill — a watered-down SB 1978 • Dallas-based art group Arttitude brought in New York artist Brian Kenny to paint a mural honoring transgender pioneers Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera on the side of a building at 4008 Cedar Springs Road.
June
• Dallas transgender woman Chynal Lindsey was found dead in White Rock Lake on June 1 • The city of Dallas held a reception at City Hall to kick off June Pride Month • Dallas’ Pride celebration was held in June for the first time since the early 1980s, and the Miller Lite Music Festival and Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade were moved out of the gayborhood to Fair Park • Transgender Pride of Dallas held a Pride is a Protest rally and march from City Hall to Fair Park prior to the Pride parade • Longtime Dallas Tavern Guild executive director Michael Doughman died at his home in Puerto Vallarta • Police announced the arrest of Kendrell Lavar Lyles in connection with the murder of Muhlaysia Booker. Soon after the arrested Ruben Alvarado in the murder of Chynal Lindsey• Dallas Southern Pride celebrated Juneteenth with a weekend full of activities • Protestors came to Dallas from Louisiana to protest a planned Drag Queen Story Hour, only they came on the wrong date and protested outside the wrong location • The world celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots • The Tarrant County Commissioners Court and the Watauga City Council issued proclamations recognizing LGBTQ Pride Month • Human Rights Campaign announced Alphonso David as the organization’s new CEO • Equality Texas named Angela Hale as acting CEO • The city of Mesquite held its first-ever Pride Month event • Prism Health North Texas opened a new PrEP clinic in Oak Lawn • The city of Dallas announced plans to paint 10 rainbow crosswalks in the Oak Lawn gayborhood • Dallas Bears distributed a total of $78,754 to six beneficiaries.
LGBT Caucus
July
• Mike Steele, a member of the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission, was outed on Twitter for making racist, transphobic, anti-immigrant and highly partisan remarks on social media. He was later voted off the commission • Officials with Black Tie Dinner announced that the former AIDS Services of Dallas president and CEO, Don Maison, would receive the 2019 Kuchling Award • Resource Center opened a primary care clinic on its Reagan Street Health Campus, with Dr. Gene Voskuhl as its head.
August
• Several Dallas-area pastors, including Beth El Binah Cantor Don Croll, Cathedral of Hope pastor the Rev. Neil Cazares and Oak Lawn United Methodist Church pastor the Rev. Rachel Baughman, participated in the Moral Monday protest outside immigrant detention centers in El Paso, organized by the Rev. William Barber • Traswell Livingston was appointed as president and CEO of AIDS Services of Dallas • Attorney Shelly Skeen of Dallas joined the staff of Lambda Legal as a senior staff attorney • Early registration opened for Creating Change 2020, coming to Dallas in January • Officials with Black Tie Dinner announced that award-winning singer and actor Billy Porter would be a featured speaker at the 2019 event • Judge Hector Garza ruled against attorneys for Edward Thomas, the man accused of assaulting trans woman Muhlaysia Booker in April, in their effort to have Booker dead-named and misgendered in the indictment against Thomas. Thomas was eventually convicted.
September
• Muhlaysia Booker’s mother, Stephanie Houston, announced that she would be launching the Muhlaysia Booker Foundation • AIN announced a new affiliation with AIDS Healthcare Foundation, with plans for AHF to add a clinic at AIN • Dallas police arrested 29-year-old Domingo Ramirez-Cayente in the shooting of transgender woman Daniela Calderon-Rivera. Rivera was critically injured but survived. Ramirez-Cayente later jumped bail and fled the country • Phil Johnson, a longtime activist, LGBT icon and the Dallas LGBTQ community’s unofficial historian, died at the age of 94.
October
• Officials with Turtle Creek Chorale announced that Broadway star Idina Menzel would perform at the chorus’ 40th anniversary celebration in February • The LGBTQ Victory Fund endorsed gay man Shawn Terry in his campaign for Texas House District 108 • Terry Loftis was named executive director of the Arts Community Alliance • The Women’s Chorus of Dallas celebrated its 30th anniversary • Organizers for Creating Change 2020 announced that the Rev. angel Kyodo Williams, a Zen priest, will be the speaker for the opening plenary at the event • The LGBTQ Victory Fund endorsed state Rep. Julie Johnson in her re-election bid • LifeWalk 2019 Co-chair Mark Thibodeau announced that the event had raised more than $502,000.
November
• Officials with Abounding Prosperity Inc. announced that transgender advocate and activist Sharyn Grayson had joined the agency’s staff as director of development and transgender programs and services • Dallas trans man Ethan Avanzino and his partner, David Whitehead, announced the formation of Safe To Be • Transgender activist Nikki Araguz of Houston died at her home • Equality Texas celebrated its 30th anniversary • Pioneering HIV specialist Dr. Steven Pounders of Dallas celebrated his 30th year in practice • Super Happy Fun America and East Texas woman Teresa Stephens Richenberger announced plans for a Straight Pride Parade in Dallas. The march fell through when organizers learned at the last minute that they had to pay significant fees to the city for permits, security and insurance. SHFA representatives who came to Dallas for the event pledged to hold a rally anyway, only to become a laughingstock when they were the only two people to show up • More than 75 percent of openly LGBTQ candidates running for office around the country won their races in November elections • Trans attorney Katie Sprinkle was appointed as a Dallas County Criminal Court magistrate • Texas Pride Impact Fund distributed a total of $120,000 to 17 grant recipients across the state • North Texas marked Transgender Day of Remembrance with services in Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton • Officials with Equality Texas announced that Ricardo Martinez had been named CEO of the LGBTQ lobby • Rebecca Marques was named Texas state director for the Human Rights Campaign • Turtle Creek Chorale named Jeremy Wayne as its new executive director • Judge Sam Lindsey denied a motion by the Mansfield ISD to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit brought against the school district by lesbian teacher Stacy Bailey.
December
• Both Dallas and Fort Worth received scores of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index • The mural on Cedar Springs Road honoring transgender icons and activists Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson was cleaned and then repaired by local artist RafiQ Saleh-Flowers after it was vandalized with spray paint • Officials with Black Tie Dinner distributed a record $1.44 million to the Human Rights Campaign and 16 local beneficiary organizations • The Hidden Door celebrated its 40th anniversary.
