{"id":362512,"date":"2025-11-07T16:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/362512\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T16:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:10:10","slug":"dallas-pushes-to-keep-rainbow-crosswalks-seeks-exemption-from-abbott-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/362512\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas pushes to keep rainbow crosswalks, seeks exemption from Abbott order"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city of Dallas is seeking an exemption from Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s Oct. 8 directive that instructed<\/a> Texas cities and counties to remove \u201cpolitical ideologies\u201d including flags and symbols from public roadways. <\/p>\n

City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert announced the decision on Thursday evening, a day before the deadline set by the Texas Department of Transportation for statewide compliance. <\/p>\n

TxDOT will grant exceptions based on \u201ca demonstrated public safety benefit or compelling justification,\u201d according to the department\u2019s executive director, Marc Williams, who addressed Texas transportation officials in a letter on Oct. 8. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when TxDOT will hand down its decision, but in the meantime, the city of Dallas is exploring \u201cother opportunities for neighborhood identity and beautification efforts,\u201d Tolbert said in a statement. <\/p>\n

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Uncertainty has loomed in recent weeks over the future of South Dallas crosswalks<\/a> painted with the protest slogan \u201cAll Black Lives Matter\u201d and rainbow crosswalks<\/a> in the historically LGBTQ neighborhood of Oak Lawn. <\/p>\n

Texas municipalities that refuse to comply with Abbott\u2019s order risk losing federal and transportation funding. Dallas joins San Antonio and Austin in seeking an exemption to retain some street art. <\/p>\n

In other Texas cities, like Galveston and Houston, city officials have removed rainbow crosswalks in response to Abbott\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

Such installations are regarded as symbols of pride and inclusion for the LGBTQ community. In Oak Lawn, concerned residents and LGBTQ advocates staged a rally<\/a> recently in opposition to Abbott\u2019s order. A neighborhood church also painted<\/a> its front steps with the colors of the rainbow in a gesture of solidarity that went viral.<\/p>\n

The rainbow crosswalks have increasingly become embroiled in national culture wars.<\/p>\n

Abbott\u2019s order echoed a July memo from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who called upon governors to join a federal initiative aimed at improving road safety and freeing roads of \u201cdistractions.\u201d \u201cRoads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,\u201d Duffy wrote. <\/p>\n

Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua, who represents South Dallas, described Abbott\u2019s order as \u201cpolitical posturing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a state leading the nation with uninsured residents, increased gun violence, devastating maternity mortality rates and severely underpaid public education, it\u2019s sad to see issues like this being a priority and waste of everyone\u2019s time,\u201d Bazaldua said in a text message. \u201cKeeping or replacing public art does nothing to improve the lives of everyday Texans, which should be the focus of our states elected leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Dallas is seeking an exemption from Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s Oct. 8 directive that instructed Texas…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":362513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14840,14841,5026,11210,80,14053,358,522,3187,8320,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5548],"class_list":{"0":"post-362512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-city-council","11":"tag-dallas-city-hall","12":"tag-greg-abbott","13":"tag-oak-lawn","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-south-dallas","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-transportation","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-txdot","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-visual-arts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115509292225855000","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}