Dallas destroys rainbow crosswalks under Texas mandate

Early Monday morning, responding to a demand from the Texas Department of Transportation, crews showed up at a busy intersection in Dallas and got to work.

At Cedar Springs Road and Oak Lawn Avenue, in the heart of the city’s LGBTQ+ district, they began washing away the rainbow crosswalks. Within hours, the color that had marked the neighborhood for years was fading into standard white lines.

Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.

It’s the first step in a citywide, three-week project to remove about 30 decorative crossings, including both Pride crosswalks and Black Lives Matter crosswalks in South Dallas, according to local Fox affiliate KDFW. City officials say the work is expected to wrap up by late April, bringing all intersections into compliance with state standards. Dallas leaders didn’t plan to do this on their own volition.

The removals come after TxDOT told the city that decorative crosswalks don’t meet the state’s traffic control standards, which govern how roads are marked and designed. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has suggested that rainbow crosswalks pose traffic hazards.

Related: Meet the lesbian minister whose church clapped back at Texas's ban on rainbow crosswalks

Related: Texas follows Florida's lead in demanding end to rainbow crosswalks and street art

City leaders asked for an exception. The state denied it and made the stakes clear: comply or risk losing transportation funding.

The directive stems from an order by Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, whose administration has insisted the issue is one of safety and uniformity, arguing roads should not include markings that could distract drivers.

Local officials and advocates say there’s little evidence to support that claim. Many of the crosswalks were installed with private donations, not taxpayer money.

To understand why this moment feels bigger than road paint, you have to understand Oak Lawn.

It’s long been the center of LGBTQ+ life in Dallas. It’s a place where people have gathered for decades, especially when it wasn’t always safe to be visible elsewhere, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Cedar Springs Road runs through it like a spine, lined with bars, clubs, and community spaces.

The crosswalks weren’t just decoration. They told people where they were and, for some who’d never before been told so, that they were welcome. “It’s attempting to demoralize,” resident Justin Longoria said, calling the move “punching down,” according to The Dallas Morning News. Others said the Pride and Black Lives Matter crosswalks made communities that are often targeted feel visible in public space.

Related: Overnight standoff over Houston’s rainbow crosswalks ends with arrests

Related: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy implies rainbow crosswalks could lead to traffic dangers

In Houston, when a rainbow crosswalk in the Montrose neighborhood was removed last October, protesters showed up and tried to stop it. Some stood in the street. Others refused to move. Police arrested several people who stayed.

In San Antonio, officials also removed Pride crosswalks in December after the state denied an exemption, but quickly began looking for ways to move those symbols off the road and into nearby spaces.

And beyond Texas, the same kind of conflict is playing out under different reasoning.

In Washington, D.C., the large “Black Lives Matter” mural painted on a street near the White House, created during the 2020 protests after George Floyd’s murder, was dismantled after Republican lawmakers threatened to withhold federal funding unless it was removed.

In Maryland, a mayor ordered a Pride crosswalk milled away at dawn, citing government neutrality. In Florida, even a rainbow-colored bike rack became a political flashpoint.

Back in Dallas, officials are already trying to figure out what comes next.

The city’s Office of Arts and Culture is planning community meetings in April to explore other ways neighborhoods can express identity, without putting it on the street, where state rules apply.