Some places have a Pride day or even Pride Weekend. Nationally we celebrate June as Pride Month. But here in North Texas, Pride lasts year-round.
Dallas Pride took place over the three days of the first weekend in June, starting Friday night, June 2, with the MetroBall featuring Debbie Gibson and Kristine W, with emcee Jada Pinkett Smith. The annual Music Festival at Fair Park took place Saturday, June 3, and included numerous vendors and community organizations along with three stages of entertainment, with the Fly Queens and the Rose Room cast headlining the Drag Stage, and North Texas native Alison Ponthier headlining the lineup on the Main Stage. On Sunday, June 4, the weekend wrapped up with the 2023 Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade at Fair Park, led by four grand marshals: The LGBTQ Heterosexual Non-Transgender Ally Grand Marshal Liz Dyer, Female-Identifying LGBTQ Grand Marshal Ronnie Shue, Gender Non-Conforming Non-Binary Grand Marshal Kylee O’Hara Fatale and the Male-Identifying LGBTQ Grand Marshal Ashton Hammer.

In the days immediately after Dallas Pride weekend, officials with the organization announced that Jaron Turnbow, who had taken over as executive director following the retirement of Michael Doughman in mid-2018, had resigned, and that Chris Bengston, who had retired earlier from a decades-long career with Caven Enterprises, would serve as interim executive director. In late September, Dallas Pride officials announced that Sherrell Cross, formerly with Teen Pride and Real Live Connection, would be taking over as executive director. The following month, in November, Teen Pride and Real Connection announced that Lawrence Jetter would be replacing Cross as executive director of those two organizations.

The 2023 Frank Kent Cadillac Arlington Pride Celebration promised a “bigger and better” event, and on June 10, at the Leavitt Pavilion, they delivered with a show featuring local artists alongside RuPaul Drag Race queens Symone, Angeria Paris VanMichaels, and Kennedy Davenport, with the legendary Lady Bunny DJing in the sponsor/VIP Lounge. The event pulled in a record attendance.

AT&T’s Turn Up the Love Pride Month Tour returned to Dallas on June 23, featuring performances by Years and Years, Wrabel and Kelechi at the AT&T flagship store in downtown Dallas.

With Ahmad Goree stepping in as head of Dallas Southern Pride in the wake of Kirk Myers-Hill’s death, the organization moved ahead in June with its annual Juneteenth weekend celebration, following up at the end of September by joining forces with Abounding Prosperity Inc. to present the Pride Block Party on Sept. 29, the weekend of the annual football showdown between Grambling and Prairie View A&M. The party featured DJ 008, a mechanical bull, a bounce house, a twerking contest, a mini-ball a Sex Siren contest along with KONA Frozen Ice and food trucks.

Pride in Dallas, formed in 2022 to bring Pride back to Oak Lawn, held its second annual Parade on Cedar Springs on Sunday, Sept. 17, with Alyssa Edwards and Chris Sapphire as grand marshals and more than 50 entries. It was a busy weekend, with Texas Latino Pride happening Saturday, Sept. 16, at Reverchon Park, and at least three Pride after-parties taking place Sunday evening after the parade: the Pride in Dallas Blackout After Party at Gilley’s with performances by Sevendeep,. Gloss Up and Barbie Bank Rose, the Round-Up Saloon’s Denim Party with DJ Blaine and Zaddy Nick Stracener and the Love Loud Dance Party presented by BearDance and The Purple Foundation, featuring DJ Kitty Glitter at S4.

On Sunday, Sept 17, before the parade, Cathedral of Hope UCC offered up its response to SB 12, the “drag ban” passed earlier in the year but enjoined by the court, with a special Blessing of the Drag Queens service.

Pride in North Texas wrapped up for 2023 with the second annual Pride Frisco Festival at the Toyota Stadium. The event featured vendors and organizational booths as well as appearances by three of the movement’s mother: Parents of Trans Youth Founder Mandy Giles, Mama Bears Liz Dyer and Free Mom Hugs founder Sara Cunningham.

— Tammye Nash