The Legislature may have passed a law that allows the state to override local ordinances, but the city of Dallas Pride flag is an official city flag and current ordinance requires it to be flown over Dallas City Hall during June.
So at noon on June 1, Councilman Chad West and Deputy Mayor Omar Narvaez presided over the raising of the Dallas Pride flag at City Hall Plaza. Most of the city council attended. Two state representatives were there — Victoria Neave-Criado and Venton Jones. U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett said she had just gotten off a plane from D.C. this morning and ran over to City Hall. Representatives of the Dallas Wings also attended.
Councilwoman Carolyn King Arnold read the city proclamation. Narvaez said it was customary to give the proclamation to someone who had worked over the past year for LGBTQ rights. He awarded the proclamation to Jones, who just completed his first session in the Legislature as the first out Black representative and the first out about his HIV-positive status.
A record- sized crowd watch as the flag was unfurled next to a Texas and U.S. flag and will fly through June as instructed by Dallas city ordinance.
— David Taffet