Liz Dyer
4 chosen as grand marshals of the 2023 Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade
TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com
This year, organizers of Dallas Pride and the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade once again asked the community to nominate individuals to lead the way as grand marshals of the 2023 celebration and parade, and then to vote on a slate of nominees. But where in years past, the — usually — two top vote-getters of all the nominees would be named as grand marshals, this year nominees were divided into four specific categories, with one grand marshal elected from each category.
This year’s grand marshals are Liz Dyer, Ronnie Shue, Timothy Sherwood aka Kylee O’Hara Fatale and Ashton Hammer.
Dyer (she/her) was elected as the grand marshal in the “LGBTQ Ally, Heterosexual, Non-Transgender” category. She is a writer, speaker and activist and the founder of the Mama Bears organization. She is married, has two sons and lives in Fort Worth.
Dyer started the Facebook group “Serendipitydodah — Home of the Mama Bears” in 2014 with about 150 moms. Today, the group has more than 37,000 members and has grown into an organization with more than 60 local chapters, eight more private groups and seven programs serving the LGBTQ+ community. You can find more information about the Mama Bears organization online at RealMamaBears.org.
Shue (she/her) was elected grand marshal in the “LGBTQ, Female Identifying” category. She has been a volunteer at Resource Center Dallas since the center re-opened following the COVID shutdown. She is the center’s front desk receptionist and volunteers at many special events for the center. She is also an employee of the Round-Up Saloon and Dance Hall.
Kylee O’Hara Fatale
Shue has been a member and supporter of the Dallas LGBTQ community for more than 15 years, and has said her goal is to help unify the LGBTQ community because, “While we face resistance and negative energy from the outside world, if we stand together as a family, we can project a positive influence on society.”
Sherwood, aka Kylee O’Hara Fatale, was elected grand marshal in the “LGBTQ Gender Non-Binary/Non-Conforming” category. As
Kylee, Sherwood is well-known around North Texas and beyond as a drag entertainer and producer.
She is a former educator with 10 years of experience in the classroom and in the field of early childhood development. After moving to Texas in 2014, she discovered the art of female impression and has since made her art into a full-time career, performing on stages all over Texas. She is the current reigning Miss Gay Texas America, a member of the casts at JR.’S, Sue Ellen’s, S4 and TMC, the founder of “The Queer Off” at Sue Ellen’s and co-owner of A Side of Drag, LLC, a drag queen staffing company.
Ronnie Shue
Hammer (he/him) was elected grand marshal in the “LGBTQ, Male Identifying” category. He is the creator of the Amarillo-based Smile
Big Texas organization, a grassroots nonprofit organization focused on providing resourced such as healthcare, educational assistance, housing assistance, gender affirming care and autonomy for youth and young adults in the highly-conservative and deeply red Texas Panhandle.
It was the discrimination he faced growing up in Dumas, Texas, that spurred Hammer on to create Smile Big Texas. He has been able to expand the organization to the Lubbock area, and he hopes to take it nationwide in the next few years.