Paul Ridley. Photo by Renee Umsted.
Earlier this week, Gov. Greg Abbott released a directive that was interpreted as a call to remove rainbow crosswalks, and District 14 City Council member Paul E. Ridley isn’t a fan, to say the least.
On Oct. 8, Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Transportation “to ensure Texas counties and cities remove any and all political ideologies from our streets.”
“Texans expect their taxpayer dollars to be used wisely, not advance political agendas on Texas roadways,” the governor said in a press release. “To keep Texans moving safely and free from distraction, we must maintain a safe and consistent transportation network across Texas. Any city that refuses to comply with the federal road standards will face consequences including the withholding or denial of state and federal road funding and suspension of agreements with TxDOT.”
This has largely been interpreted to mean cities with rainbow crosswalks (like ours, in Oak Lawn) will be forced to remove them. KERA reported that a letter sent from TxDOT to cities and counties specifically names “decorative crosswalks” as part of this directive and says that governments have 30 days to remove any violating designs.
Ridley is not having it and, like others, sees this order as an attack on the LGBTQ+ community, of which the rainbow Pride flag is a symbol of.
“The idea that these crosswalks are a safety concern is unsupported and highly questionable,” the council member said in a statement posted to social media. “The real argument Abbott is using against these crosswalks is that they insert ‘ideology’ into public spaces, using taxpayer dollars (untrue in the case of the rainbow crosswalks in Dallas). This is a bit hypocritical. Isn’t Abbott’s law requiring that the 10 Commandments be displayed in all public schools in Texas the same thing? The LGBTQ+ community in particular is being targeted to score political points, inflame divisions and please a political base, and it’s just not right.”
As alluded to in the statement, our city’s rainbow crosswalk was paid for with private dollars, not public ones. North Texas LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tony Vedda confirmed this in a Dallas Morning News article.
Ridley also reported in his statement that the City attorney is researching Dallas’ options.
“I will be watching that closely. I support the ability of a community — whether the LGBTQ+ community, women, or the Latino and African American communities — to engage in public symbolism,” he said in the statement. “If for some reason we are forced to remove symbolic crosswalks, I think we should consider flags on lamp posts, signage on buildings, or some other way of visualizing the bonds of community.”
