In response to the growing number and intensity of attacks on the LGBTQ community from state and federal governments, a coalition of North Texas LGBTQ organizations are coming together to host DFW’s first Queer and Trans Liberation March on Sunday, March 23. Organizers said they hope the march will become an annual event.
The march, scheduled from 2-5 p.m., will step off at the intersection of Inwood Road and Cedar Springs Road down Cedar Springs to the Cedar Springs/Throckmorton Crossroads at the heart of the Dallas Gayborhood. The speaker lineup, starting point plans and other details are still being finalized and will be announced in the coming days.
“Together, Texans will stand for the rights and liberation of the LGBTQ community,” noted a press release announcing the march. “Out of the bars and into the street, the Queer & Trans Liberation March will serve as the beginning of a growing movement that pushes back against the recent and growing attacks on our community.”
Hosting organizations include Texas Latino Pride, Impulse Dallas, Resource Center, Equality Texas, GLAAD, Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, The 23rd Senatorial District Tejano Democrats, Round-Up Saloon, Caven Enterprises and more.
“Out of the bars and into the streets, the Queer & Trans Liberation March will begin a movement across Texas. We will not hide, and we will continue to speak out. Our lives depend on it.”
Jacob Reyes, GLAAD
Just over five weeks into Texas’ 89th Legislature regular session, 99 anti-LGBTQ bills have already been filed, compared to the more than 140 anti-LGBTQ bills filed in the 88th Legislature in 2023, many of which explicitly targeted trans people living in the state.
And since Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, his administration has been working to remake the federal government in a far-right mold through executive orders, many of which specifically target the LGBTQ community, with a special focus on attacking transgender people. That includes executive orders focused on ostracizing trans people, preventing discussion of LGBTQ issues in public schools, eliminating health care for trans youth, ending DEI practices in federal agencies, preventing trans Americans from serving in the armed forces and dehumanizing trans inmates in federal prisons, the press release notes.
Advocates have long stressed that anti-LGBTQ efforts on the part of governmental entities significantly increase hate crime attacks. Since June 1, 2022, the press release notes, GLAAD’s ALERT Desk has tracked more than 60 anti-LGBTQ incidents, including ones specifically targeting transgender and gender non-conforming people in Texas.
“With 1.8 million LGBTQ Texans living in the state, the second-highest in the country, these statistics are concerning and will only continue to grow,” the press release says.
Jacob Reyes, one of the Queer & Trans Liberation March organizers who is also communications director for Texas Latino Pride and news coordinator for GLAAD News, said, “The Queer & Trans Liberation March is a response to ongoing regressions LGBTQ Texans continue to face. In the heart of Dallas’ historic Cedar Springs neighborhood, our march is a start for our community to come together. Out of the bars and into the streets, the Queer & Trans Liberation March will begin a movement across Texas.
“We will not hide, and we will continue to speak out,” Reyes added. “Our lives depend on it.”
Resource Center CEO Cece Cox said, “Many LGBTQ Texans live in fear due to the dangerous setbacks the community faces in the state. Transgender youth feel unsafe in their own classrooms; LGBTQ seniors face discrimination in housing; the liberating art of drag is in danger of erasure and so much more.
“These concerns should motivate us, though,” Cox continued. “The Queer & Trans Liberation March sends a message to all in Dallas and across Texas that when we stand up and show up for our communities, we move closer to reclaiming justice.”
“The Queer & Trans Liberation March sends a message to all in Dallas and across Texas that when we stand up and show up for our communities, we move closer to reclaiming justice.”
Cece Cox, Resource Center CEO
Equality Texas Community Engagement and Advocacy Strategist Gordy Carmona pointed out that classrooms across the state “are being censored; trans people are facing healthcare inaccessibility that could endanger their lives and so much more. These efforts are not solving the real problems Texans face. Instead, they are created to harm and erase LGBTQ Texans.”
The Queer & Trans Liberation March will “push back those efforts and serve as a message to all Texans that we will continue to exist, and we’re not going anywhere,” Carmona said.
Ressie Gamble, Impulse Dallas’ chairman and president, stressed that the march “comes at a major turning point in our movement. As the LGBTQ community continues to face setbacks from bigoted minds, it is our responsibility to come out in the spirit of unity and tell the naysayers that erasure is not an option.”
Texas Latino Pride is a nonprofit organization that celebrates the cultural heritage, diversity and achievements of the Hispanic/Latinx and LGBTQIA+ communities in Texas.
GLAAD is an LGBTQ media organization dedicated to “tackl[ing] tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and creates a world where everyone can live the life they love.
Equality Texas is a statewide LGBTQ lobbying and advocacy organization that “works to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Texans through political action, education, community organizing and collaboration.”
Resource Center, founded in 1983 as a grassroots service for people with HIV/AIDS, is “dedicated to empowering the LGBTQIA+ community and all people living with HIV/AIDS. We are committed to healing and transforming our community, with the goal of achieving recognition and equal rights for all LGBTQIA+ people.” Resource Center is known as trusted provider of LGBTQIA+ services in a safe, affirming environment.
Impulse Group Dallas is a social nonprofit focused on the mental, physical and sexual health of gay men and their allies, and represents the local arm of a global nonprofit tree. “With a widespread presence, we have ample resources or connections available to implement in our city,” a spokesperson said. “We [focus] on what our city needs for the gay community and do this through connection, events and advocacy messaging that challenges the status quo. We are here to serve and have fun while doing it.”
— Tammye Nash