Gay Pride Parade in Dallas - Ignored by Local Newspaper

Sunday saw the annual Alan Ross Freedom Parade in Dallas. This event grew out of the Gay Pride Parades of the 1980’s and has become a really large event. I usually march with the National Leather Association- Dallas Chapter or my church, Cathedral of Hope. Though September is not really Gay Pride in any other city, for Dallas it is, and the parade is always well attended.

As I drove our float ( I have long given up walking the mile and a half route) down Cedar Springs, I was impressed with the diversity and size of the crowd. Tens of thousands of people of all races and nationalities, ages and sexes were lining the streets cheering and having a great time. The Mayor of Dallas, Tom Leppert was in the lead as has become a tradition since Mayor Laura Miller. There were a variety of elected officials riding in the parade as well as over 90 entries from floats to equestrian groups. All in all it was sweaty, but really a great event.

Here is the problem. The local paper, The Dallas Morning News, had absolutely no coverage of the event. They cover the St. Patrick’s Day parade on lower Greenville Ave, as well as almost every other local event, why not the Gay Pride Parade? I suspect this shows just how conservative and Republican the newspaper is. In typical GOP fashion they figure if you ignore something it will go away. They are wrong! Long after the Dallas Morning News has faded into oblivion like many other newspapers, there will still be a Gay Pride Parade. Their purposeful omission is one reason why their readership is dropping and why they are making themselves irrelevant to the local community. The paper is out of step with Dallas. We are more and more a Democratic city and the newspaper is refusing to recognize it.