As a Keller couple prepares to launch a first-of-its-kind Pride festival in their hometown, the LGBTQ event planners face pushback as Republican officials across the county call for its cancellation. 

April and Shaina Dreyson are launching the inaugural Pride Kel-So festival at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church on Oct. 4. They describe the event as family friendly and say it will feature more than 100 North Texas vendors, live performances, drag performers, and kid and teen areas. 

Critics assert that the LGBTQ event is inappropriate and should not be in the public eye, but the couple argues it’s needed now more than ever in the northeast corner of America’s largest urban red county. The event will be located at the border of Keller and Southlake, cities with predominantly Republican voters who overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump’s reelection in 2024. 

“This event is the toughest fight yet, but the most fulfilling that we’ve ever had,” Shaina said. 

In a statement to the Fort Worth Report that he later shared on social media, Keller Mayor Armin Mizani asserted the event’s agenda is “aimed at exposing children to inappropriate, highly sexualized content.” Mizani, a Republican, is campaigning for election to Texas House District 98, which spans a portion of northeast Tarrant County including Keller and Southlake. 

“Let me be clear: the city of Keller is not involved and does not condone this event,” Mizani said. 

Southlake Mayor Shawn McCaskill did not answer requests for comment. On Sept. 29, McCaskill, a Republican, responded to several X posts about Pride Kel-So with the message, “This event is not a city of Southlake event. The Southlake Police Department is aware of this event, which is being held on private property at that church.” In another post, he wrote that the event has received no support from the city of Southlake or its City Council. 

Pride Kel-So finds private church for event

April and Shaina Dreyson hold hands with wedding bands on their ring fingers in Southlake Sept. 23, 2025. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)

The Dreysons, who own an event planning company, said they felt inspired to start Pride Kel-So to show that Keller and Southlake are shifting in their support. April, 38, and Shaina, 32, wanted youth and families to see LGBTQ representation in Keller, an opportunity they never got as children growing up scared to come out as lesbian.

The couple was concerned initially about where to host the festival, knowing they were unlikely to get permission to use a city-owned facility in either city. The perfect venue appeared when they met the Rev. Alan Bentrup of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church. 

The LGBTQ-affirming church will host the event on 13 acres of private land. 

St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church is at 223 S. Pearson Lane in Southlake. The church’s mission is to be inclusive of all people, regardless of sexual identity or orientation, according to its website. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)

Bentrup said his church and clergy “take a ministry of hospitality very seriously,” so it was a no-brainer to host Pride Kel-So on church land. He said St. Martin regularly hosts events for groups that don’t attend the church, including a local youth soccer program, homeowners associations, Alcoholics Anonymous groups and Boy Scouts chapters. 

“We don’t just do stuff in this building and on this property on Sunday mornings,” Bentrup said. “We want the community to know this is a place for them, and so this is an extension of that — obviously more controversial than a soccer team, but that doesn’t matter to us.” 

Bentrup knows not all Christians will support his involvement in the event. But as a pastor, he feels called to stand up for a community that hasn’t always been welcomed in Christian churches. To him, it’s not a political stand. 

“What we’re making is a theological statement that God’s love is bigger and wider and deeper and crazier and more expansive than anything we could ever imagine,” Bentrup said. 

For the Dreysons, religious support for their event has been an “ever-evolving” process as both struggle with what they describe as “religious trauma” from their childhoods. Both are grateful for St. Martin’s and other churches’ support in helping some LGBTQ people heal from past experiences. 

When they announced Pride Kel-So at the beginning of April, the Dreysons said they received hundreds of messages from local parents and members of the LBGTQ community expressing gratitude for the event. 

Pride Kel-So has privately fundraised over $100,000 through corporate donations and community support, with major donors including Charles Schwab and Help Center for LGBTQ+ Health, according to event organizers.

Roger Calderon is the president of Trinity Pride Fest, the largest privately organized LGBTQ festival in Fort Worth, held annually in the Near Southside. He said he’s thrilled to see a new Pride event held in North Texas, particularly for the Keller and Southlake communities, and he looks forward to celebrating what he believes will be the start of a “beautiful tradition.” 

“We should take every opportunity to honor our stories, our resilience and our joy,” Calderon said in a statement.

A digital billboard promoting Pride Kel-So shines on a large LED screen outside of a Sam’s Club in Keller on Sept. 23, 2025. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)

Couple faces conservative pushback over programming

In the months leading up to October, April and Shaina faced pockets of opposition and criticism on social media. In the last week of September, the event garnered renewed attention as Republican officials across the county aired concerns and allegations online. 

Mizani argued that Pride Kel-So violates Senate Bill 12, a 2023 law that bans sexually oriented drag shows and other performances in front of children, and penalizes performers as well as any businesses that host such shows. A federal court ruled the law was unconstitutional and issued a temporary injunction in 2023, preventing government officials from enforcing it until an appeals court issues a final ruling. That decision is still pending. 

When asked how Pride Kel-So potentially violates the law, Mizani sent a flyer of the event’s schedule along with links to two songs by Madame Lexical, a drag queen who was scheduled to perform at the festival. The performer was removed from the event’s lineup Sept. 29.

April said Madame Lexical was removed to “shield her from the onslaught of misguided hate,” but that event organizers stand in solidarity with the performer. The Dreysons instructed all other performers to keep their acts family-friendly by excluding sexual dance moves or song lyrics — “Think Disney, and what Disney would allow,” April added.

Tarrant County GOP chairman Bo French, who has posted repeatedly on X that he believes transgender people should be banned, authored a Sept. 26 X article criticizing Madame Lexical and the lyrics of some of her songs. 

“There is no place in civil society for this kind of violent degeneracy. Leftists, and specifically the mentally deranged “trans” community, have declared war on the right,” French wrote. “It is time all of our leaders, from the Trump administration down to the local level, put a stop to all of this immediately.”

April and Shaina Dreyson discuss their proposed layout of Pride Kel-So during a walk-through on the Keller church’s 13-acre property Sept. 26, 2025. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)

For the safety of guests, organizers have ensured there will be “extensive security operations” in place for any situation that may arise. 

Regardless of the backlash, April and Shaina said they’re proud to launch the event, and they hope to see it help the two cities chart a path forward in accepting the LGBTQ community. 

The two had previously considered moving out of Texas, but felt called to stay in the city they’ve called home the majority of their lives. They’ve seen several of their friends relocate to cities like New York but didn’t want to abandon hope for their hometown.

“Somebody told me early on, ‘If all of us moved, who would be there — to fix this?’” April said. 

Shaina added, “Even though we’re just a blip on the radar, doing something like this in this hyperconservative community is going to make a difference, and that’s all we’re trying to do.”

Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org. 

David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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