{"id":506212,"date":"2026-01-10T13:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506212\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T13:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:25:21","slug":"dallas-unveils-new-mural-to-honor-lgbtq-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506212\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Unveils New Mural To Honor LGBTQ+ Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA neighborhood covered in murals honoring the legacies of LGBTQ icons got a new addition on Thursday. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Alyssa Fields<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been decades since the antiretroviral for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was developed, allowing for the disease to become undetectable and untransmittable with proper care. So, at a time when HIV rates are increasing in Dallas County<\/a>,\u00a0 and national attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community shift, many believe pride has never been more important. Now, community leaders are honoring that with a grandiose rainbow mural in the heart of the gayborhood.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that art is a vehicle for connectivity,\u201d said Rig Rush, director of branding for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), one of the organizations that planned the mural. \u201cI believe it\u2019s a voice of the community, and I believe that sometimes it brings things to light that are often denied or uncomfortable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new mural, unveiled in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, was a collaborative project between the AHF, the largest non-profit HIV\/AIDS organization, and the Dallas-based arts organization Artitude. The mural, which stretches the side of the AHF Cedar Springs Wellness Center at 4012 Cedar Springs Road, was painted in honor of local queer advocates and includes their portraits and moments from Dallas Pride.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"The new mural sits in the heart of the Cedar Springs Strip in Oak Lawn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that, as a country, we should be empowering people to live authentically and peacefully in their bodies, not silencing them,\u201d said muralist Kimmie Flores. \u201cRather than responding with anger or despair, I want this mural to serve as a joyful celebration of resilience, diversity and pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mural, which features empty Polaroid-style frames, was intentionally left blank so that community members could write the names of those they\u2019ve lost to HIV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mural reminds us of the lives HIV has impacted, those we have lost, those who continue to live and thrive, and those whose stories we must honor and protect,\u201d said Jerome Morales Larez, cofounder of Artitude. \u201cVisibility saves lives. Compassion sustains communities, and silence has never served us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Names To Be Remembered <\/p>\n

As the red ribbon fell, attendees of the ceremony were invited to write the names of those whose stories they wished to remember.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Krista King, a transgender woman, wrote her name on the wall, with the message \u201clive free.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the younger community that comes after me to have a message and hope to know that it\u2019s going to be okay,\u201d King said. \u201cWe are living in a time right now where we need it more than ever; unprecedented.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rush, who started his career in public health before he received his HIV diagnosis, wrote the name of his former mentor, Troy, who died of AIDS 15 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[He was] rebellious, but had a heart of gold,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was the first person I called when I got diagnosed. What he said to me was, \u2018Good kitten,\u2019 and he hung up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A man writes the name \u201cMichael\u201d on the Polaroid section. Alyssa Fields <\/strong><\/p>\n

With a giggle, Rush continued on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe called me back. He said, \u2018Okay, now that that moment\u2019s over, why do you feel sad? And I said, \u2018Because\u2026\u2019 He said, \u2018You have helped people through diagnosis. You have helped people regain their strength. So now it\u2019s your time to cross the bridge. Not only will you put yourself first, but when I\u2019m dead and gone, you will realize that you are part of a longer love story.\u2019 This is nothing more than a virus that gave us a chance to choose ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A neighborhood covered in murals honoring the legacies of LGBTQ icons got a new addition on Thursday. Alyssa…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":506213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,43314,5603,11642,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-506212","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-first-look","11":"tag-lgbtq","12":"tag-public-art","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115871031411601997","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506212","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=506212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}