North Texans who couldn’t make it to Washington, D.C., this weekend for D.C.’s Pride celebration Saturday and the Equality March for Pride and Unity have plenty of options right here at home to take a stand.
Organizers of the national march, which steps off at 10 a.m. Sunday, want to see a huge crowd rallying for equality in the nation’s capitol on Sunday. But they also hope to see a repeat of what happened with the Women’s March in January, with marches that met or exceeded the national march in size taking place in cities around the country.
Here in Texas, marches are happening on Sunday in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Abilene and Texarkana.
Tony Coronado with Tarrant County Gay Pride Week Association, which organized the Fort Worth Equality March, said this week the event there is not intended to take away from either the D.C. march or events in other cities, but instead offer another alternative.
“While we support the Equality March in D.C. and coordinating marches, we felt the need to provide an avenue for our local LGBT community and its allies to express themselves, utilize their voices, heal, be visible, be counted, stand in unity for equality and work together for a better Texas for all Texans,” Coronado said. “Of all the larger metro areas in Texas, if we can have a successful and well-attended LGBT Pride march in Fort Worth in June, that’s a strong message to send to our smaller LGBT communities throughout the state.”
The Fort Worth march begins at 11 a.m. at the Tarrant County Courthouse, 100 E. Weatherford St.
The Dallas event, organized by a coalition of activists and advocates, begins at 7 p.m. with a rally at Resource Center, 5750 Cedar Springs Road. Participants will then march down Cedar Springs to the entertainment district.
Also in Dallas on Sunday, Men Having Babies and Rainbow Roundup are co-sponsoring a solidarity event in conjunction with the marches, and in conjunction with MHB’s Surrogacy Conference and Expo at the Wyndham Dallas Suites–Park Central, 7800 Alpha Road. The event includes a reception from 3:30-4:30 p.m., and all LGBT families are encouraged to attend.
Austin Pride and Queer Rights ATX hold an Equality event from noon-4 p.m. at the Texas Capitol, while LGBT advocates and allies in the northeastern corner of Texas/southwestern corner of Arkansas are invited to march in Texarkana. Participants should gather at 12:30 p.m. at the corner of Laurel and Broad streets on the Arkansas side of town to then march to the post office downtown on the Texas side.
In Abilene, advocates for equality are invited to meet at Oscar Rose Park, 2601 S. 7th St., at 1:45 p.m. to participate in the Pride Sidewalk March there.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 9, 2017.
