Chad West speaking at the “No Kings” rally. Photo courtesy of Jake Ettinger.
District 1 Dallas City council member Chad West was one of thousands to attend the “No Kings” protest in downtown Dallas Saturday, Oct. 18.
As the only LGBTQ+ member of the Dallas City Council, the “proud to be out and gay” council member used his time to speak at the rally about the federal and state pressure that Texas cities have faced in regard to the removal of rainbow crosswalks.
On Oct. 8, Gov. Greg Abbott called for the removal of rainbow crosswalks. The directive outlines that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) must “remove any and all political ideologies from our streets.” For cities that do not comply, there is the potential for “withholding or denial of state and federal road funding and suspension of agreements with TxDOT.”
The governor and TxDOT has given the city 30 days to remove our rainbow crosswalks, West said.
“This is despite the fact that these rainbow crosswalks were paid for and installed with private dollars, donations,” he said. “But guess what? It’s going to cost us public dollars, your tax dollars, to remove the crosswalks. Crazy.”
In Dallas, that specifically means the streets of Cedar Springs Road and Oak Lawn Avenue. A rally took place at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Legacy of Love monument in Oak Lawn in protest of the directive.
West shared at the “No Kings” rally that his time in the U.S. army was during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy implementation, which resulted in LGBTQ+ people being banned from serving in the military or having to remain in the closet to avoid discrimination. He said it wasn’t until he moved to Dallas that he became comfortable with himself and came out because of the welcoming city.
“We didn’t have the crosswalks back then, but Dallas was the kind of welcoming city that gave me, a small town country kid, the confidence that I could come out and be who I really was. If you believe that Dallas should remain a welcoming city let me hear you,” he said with cheers, applause and drumming following his statements.
He then called on the audience to contact the rest of the Dallas City Council and State Legislature to help Dallas keep the rainbow crosswalks.
