After crosswalk changes, Dallas locals turn to new signs of support

Dallas residents are seeking new ways of showing support and pride following removal of rainbow and Black Lives Matter-themed crosswalks.

Three weeks ago, the city of Dallas began removing rainbow and Black Lives Matter-themed crosswalks as part of an October 2025 directive ordered from Governor Greg Abbott. Gov. Abbott declared that any “political” surface markings in Oak Lawn and other areas of South Dallas needed to be removed and replaced with standard crosswalks before April 28. As members of the community watch these symbols of pride being washed away, they’re already rallying to find new ways of showing their support. Thankfully, the Department of Transportation and the Office of Arts and Culture have vowed to help with the endeavor.

Community meetings were held last week to determine initial ideas for new installations across Dallas to offer appreciation and an expression of pride in the wake of the crosswalk erasures. Additional proposals are being gathered via neighborhood identity surveys which also include a space for suggestions about the themes residents most want to see represented in their neighborhoods. Benches, murals, banners, and landscaping were all floated as potential replacements. The city’s mayor, Pro Tem Jesse Moreno, spoke with his constituents to offer his support. “We stand with you — We’re going to find other ways to show appreciation and love for our communities,” he said. It was another reassuring step in the right direction.

Martinne Philippe currently serves as the Office of Arts and Culture’s director, and noted that it will take some time to sort through the ideas to come up with “feasible” options within the city’s budget, but that everyone was committed to the cause. Oak Lawn resident Avery James said she was cautiously optimistic about this “small step,” but hoped that representing the LGBTQIA+ community remained at the forefront of everyone’s minds. The same could be said of locals who want to ensure there’s a suitable replacement for the Black Lives Matter crosswalks as well. Because, as James told the Dallas Observer, “people have the right to celebrate,” and they deserve to know there are safe spaces for them where they live.

The crosswalks were originally paid for through fundraisers

One of the primary arguments Gov. Abbott made when coming up with the crosswalk replacement directive was that he wanted to prevent taxpayer dollars from promoting specific ideologies he considered to be political. Two key issues exist with this line of thinking, though. The first is that many of the rainbow crosswalks across Dallas were actually funded through organizations like the North Texas LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, which held a fundraiser to gather the money needed to install them. According to Tony Vedda, who’s the president of the LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, they supplied $128,250 for the crosswalks and an additional $45,000 was raised after that when they were initially repainted in 2025.

The secondary issue with Gov. Abbott’s line of thinking was well summed-up by Vedda, who said the crosswalks were not representative of someone’s ideology but of their identity, which is a key difference. Following this thought, he also spoke about how important it is to make sure that both LGBTQIA+ and Black identities were represented in Dallas. “I think as much as we’re unhappy about our rainbows going away, we should be equally unhappy about [the Black Lives Matter crosswalks] going away,” Vedda said. He added that the quest for replacement installations to express pride and support, “provides all of us an opportunity to reach out and work across communities on things that really benefit all of us — It is sad that they got twisted into something political. … [The crosswalks] are gone now, but we’re not.”