Dallas honors gay rights and housing activist Don Maison – The Dallas Morning News

Dallas is installing street toppers to honor the late gay rights and housing activist Don Maison, who died in February following a cancer diagnosis.

The street toppers — a decorative sign with an honorary street name — will be installed on top of existing street signs Aug. 8. Draft renderings of the design say “In Honor of Don Maison” with a blue background and white lettering.

The city is installing the street toppers at three intersections along Marsalis Avenue at Sabine Street, Colorado Boulevard and Comal Street. They will be located near the AIDS Services of Dallas, or ASD, property, Hillcrest House.

Maison was the president and CEO of ASD for decades. Among other services, the organization now houses more than 300 men, women, children and families who live with or are impacted by HIV/AIDS.

A person is usually required to have been dead for at least two years before receiving ceremonial street naming, according to Dallas Development Code. But City Council members Omar Narvaez, Chad West and Gay Donnell Willis worked to initiate the process and suspend that requirement with a three-signature memo addressed to the city manager’s office, according to city officials.

Narvaez said in an email that he believes these street toppers are the first to honor a person from the LGBTQ community in Dallas’ history.

“Don deserves to be remembered for eternity in Dallas. He didn’t just talk the talk — he screamed it out loud until folks heard him and walked with him,” Narvaez said in the email. “I miss my dear friend Don and know he is resting in power.”

Maison died at 74 this year after being a pillar in the Dallas community. Born in Michigan, Maison moved to Texas after attending seminary school in Illinois. He returned to Dallas in the 1970s after earning his law degree from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, he was a civil rights lawyer for LGBTQ Texans and expanded the impact of ASD. He was honored for his work with the Kuchling Humanitarian Award in 2019.

Traswell Livingston, president and CEO of ASD, said the street toppers were proposed to the organization during an “emotional time.”

The toppers are a “thoughtful gesture” to honor everything Maison did in partnership with the city, he said.

“I think we’ve learned going into the pandemic just about imagery and how history is important … regarding our monuments in the city,” Livingston said. “I think it’s important for us to try to acknowledge the positive things, but also [understand] the historical context.”

Livingston said Maison was a champion of affordable housing, and raised awareness about the barriers that low-income individuals with HIV/AIDS face.

“His vision and advocacy really stretched nationally [and] internationally,” Livingston said. “He was a true leader in a sense of just being yourself and eliminating stigma and supporting and providing an open door for all.”

David Taffet, a senior staff writer for LGBTQ news outlet Dallas Voice, knew Maison for about 30 years because they both worked in the community sector during the rise of the AIDS epidemic.

Taffet said Maison was persistent — he always got things done. He represented men who were barred from working as Southwest Airlines flight attendants in 1981. “That’s the reason that you [now] see male flight attendants on Southwest,” Taffet said. “Some of the cases that Don handled have a lasting legacy to this day.”

Taffet said there was no question that the city respected Maison, and the toppers are a “wonderful way” to honor him.

“My favorite thing about him was whenever … we’d have lunch at one of his facilities, he knew something about each and every resident,” Taffet said. “He respected them and cared about them and loved them, and they loved him back.”