TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editor
Nash@DallasVoice.com
A former Dallas Pride volunteer this week filed a lawsuit in Dallas County’s 192nd Civil District Court alleging that Dallas Pride board officers have covered up the embezzlement of donated funds and has mismanaged the organization’s finances over the course of several years, and demanding that Dallas Pride release financial records and other information that he first asked for in June and August of last year.
Dallas Pride officials told Dallas Voice today (Wednesday, June 17) that they are consulting with their attorneys and cannot yet comment on the lawsuit.
Jeremy Liebbe, who served as Dallas Pride’s director of security from October 2018 through June 2024 and who resigned effective July 5, 2024, filed the lawsuit which points out that Dallas Pride originated with Dallas Tavern Guild, which is a 501(c)(4) social organization to which donations were not tax exempt. Tavern Guild officials then formed Dallas Pride as a separate 501(c)(3) organization that can accept tax-exempt donations, and since that tax-exempt status was granted in March 2019, the lawsuit states, “Dallas Pride is a charitable entity.”
As such, the organization is required to file reports with the Texas Secretary of State at least every four years that identify all of its directors and officers, and it is required to file annual Form 990 federal tax returns, with those returns available to the public.
Liebbe’s lawsuit charges that Dallas Pride officials have failed to “maintain and disclose financial records” in violation of state and federal laws governing nonprofit organizations. It points to “allegations of embezzlement, fraud and financial mismanagement over the past two years,” including allegations that the organization’s former treasurer, Adam Lynn, had embezzled more than $100,000 in donated funds. Liebbe says in his petition that he was the one who “secured Dallas Pride’s financial records” at the request of Board President Frank Holland after Lynn had resigned and refused to “surrender control of Dallas Pride’s QuickBooks Online account.”
Liebbe says he discovered that Lynn had filed falsified tax documents in 2020, and he shared that information with the Dallas Pride board members. However, he charges, he “later discovered that Dallas Pride’s 2021 and 2022 Form 990 tax returns filed by Holland contained falsified information” as well.
Liebbe alleges in his lawsuit that he had contacted Holland and Dallas Pride Executive Director Sherrell Cross by email on June 29, 2025, asking for copies of the records, books and reports the organization is required by law to make available to the public.
He said he received no response to his request, nor to a second email request sent on Aug. 12 or a third request sent Aug. 20 via certified mail. He charges that the Dallas Pride board is in criminal violation of laws governing public charities. He is asking that the court order Dallas Pride to comply with state and federal laws and to provide him with the records he requested last year.
Liebbe is also asking that the court order Dallas Pride to pay for his attorney fees and other costs related to the lawsuit.
In a written statement to Dallas Voice today, Liebbe stressed that Dallas Pride is a public charity that is “legally mandated too main transparency with the community it serves — our community,” but that the organization’s board has failed in that duty.
He wrote: “Alan Ross, Paul Lewis, Michael Doughman, Jaron Turnbow and so many more strived — and often fought — to build a legacy of trust and pride for our community. I spent over 20 years volunteering my time with Dallas Pride year-round, supporting those leaders and the vision they worked hard to build. My resignation from the organization two years ago did not in any way reduce my desire to see Dallas Pride grow and succeed, benefiting our community with visibility and pride for decades to come. After all, our community is still my community.
“The abject failure of Dallas Pride’s current leadership to follow what is required by law places the organization in jeopardy and harms our community. Dallas Pride’s leadership has repeatedly violated federal law and risks IRS 501(c)(3) public charity status forfeiture. Dallas Pride’s leadership has repeatedly violated state law, risks facing criminal consequences and risks forfeiture of its Texas nonprofit corporate charter.
“Dallas Pride’s leadership has ignored and effectively covered up what appears to be over $100,000 of internal embezzlement. That money — whether criminally embezzled or recklessly misapplied — was donated for the benefit of our community.
“I filed this lawsuit because I remain hopeful that Dallas Pride can recover from years of financial mismanagement. I remain hopeful that Dallas Pride — which just this year returned to march through downtown Dallas — can continue to serve our community for decades to come. That cannot happen until the current leadership commits to doing the right thing or is removed. This lawsuit is, I hope, the next step in making that happen for our community.
“This may become an expensive matter for Dallas Pride as the board of directors will have to hire an attorney to respond. I am not seeking any money other than reimbursement for the legal costs I have, and will, pay out of my own pocket for our community. I have chosen not to retain an attorney at this point to keep those costs to a minimum.
“I am seeking a court order requiring Dallas Pride’s leadership to engage in its legally required financial transparency to our community. I am seeking to restore public trust for our community. It is time for Dallas Pride’s leadership to do the right thing, or step aside. Dallas Pride is not about them — it is about OUR community.”