By Sam Cohen
Dallas’s Oak Lawn neighborhood is, as NBCDFW aptly described it, known for its sense of advocacy. In the wake of Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent order to remove rainbow crosswalks around the city, this advocacy is even more prominently on display. The Oak Lawn United Methodist Church decided to paint its front steps in rainbow colors in an act they say is “not one of defiance, but of faith.”
For the Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, faith is something that’s extended to everyone. The front page of its website reads, “Welcome to our radically inclusive, tri-lingual community—where you’re loved exactly as you are, no matter who you are, who you love, or what you believe. We amplify God’s unconditional love through radical hospitality, serving our neighbor, and standing up for justice.”
Oak Lawn as a neighborhood is, in many ways, reflective of this stance on justice. When the crosswalk order was initially announced, crowds gathered to protest the decision and to stand in solidarity with their queer neighbors. As Paul Ridley, the council member representing Oak Lawn, said to The Dallas Morning News during the protest, “Sexual orientation is not an ideology. Gender identity is not an ideology. No one calls being straight an ideology—expression of identity harms no one.”
The United Methodist Church wholeheartedly agrees.
