Live and in person – Dallas Voice

Pride returned to Cedar Springs with the Pride in Dallas parade in September

After nearly two years of cancellations, delays and pandemic pivots, DFW’s favorite events returned in 2022

After a January lockdown that saw bars close again and face masks go back on due to the rapid spread of COVID’s omicron variant, events started really returning by June. Then the mPox scare shut down a few events later in the summer.

Pride
Planning for Dallas Pride usually runs throughout the year. After several fits and starts, planning got under way full steam ahead by March. Applications to participate in the Miller Lite Music Festival and the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade came in slowly at first, but as the deadline approached and people realized Pride would actually happen this year, both events sold out.

Pride director Jaron Turnbow said he was pleased with the number of new entries in the events after two years of virtual events and a scaled-down show. The parade included a record 150 entrants and the festival filled the Centennial Building with some events taking place in the Automobile Building.

The 2023 parade will be the 40th. Expect it to be even larger than this year’s.

Arts District Pride
Two weeks after Dallas Pride weekend, Pride in the Arts District returned full force after a scaled-down version the previous year. Heavy rain during the evening had participants running from the Dallas Museum of Art to the Nasher to the Crowe, but it didn’t put a damper on events. Some performances slated for outdoor stages were either canceled or moved, but the evening was a success with thousands participating.

Scheduled were dance performances, films, gallery tours, drag shows, games and more. The DMA highlighted some of the queer artists included in its permanent collection, and tours of the museum were led for the first time by the DMA’s Teen Advisory Council. Vendors along Flora Street displayed their wares in covered booths.

Arts District Pride promises to be even larger in 2023 — as long as the weather cooperates.

MetroBall
After a two-year hiatus, MetroBall, the large annual fundraiser for the Greg Dollgener Memorial AIDS Fund, was back in June. Tiffany had been signed for the pandemic-canceled 2020 show. As soon as MetroBall announced it would be back in 2022, she said she’d be there for the show. She was joined by ’80s icons Martha Wash and Thea Austin as well as local favorite Chris Chism.

And GDMAF was back on track, too, helping provide “last-resort assistance when other AIDS service organizations are unable to help.” Since the first MetroBall in 1996, the organization has raised $1.3 million and helped 4,457 clients — individuals and families — impacted by HIV/AIDS.

TBRU
Big events in Dallas kicked off this year with the Texas Bear Round-Up on March 23.

And bouncing back so big this year was, in some ways, a miracle. Wayne Davis, president of the Dallas Bears, which hosts the event, said it was very possible TBRU could have been gone forever after the 2020 event was shut down — along with almost everything else in the U.S. — after people had already arrived in Dallas at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s goal was to put on the best TBRU in the event’s 25-year history. Not only did they accomplish that, but TBRU maintained its place as the largest bear event in the country. And in conjunction with BearDance, the weekend raised a record amount of money for local LGBTQ organizations.

Gay Softball World Series

For the third time, Dallas hosted the Gay Softball World Series, the largest annual single-sport gay event held anywhere. A record 250 softball teams from 48 cities around the U.S. and Canada converged on Dallas from Aug. 28-Sept. 3, for the 45th annual GSWS.

About 4,000 players, umpires and coaches participated in the series and played 996 games among seven divisions at four sports complexes that were located in Dallas, Euless, Carrollton and Waxahachie. Each team that came to Dallas played at least six games, while those headed for the championships competed in 12 or more games.

Locally, Dallas’ Pegasus Slowpitch Softball Association sent a record 20 teams to the world series and was represented in every division.

Billy Bean, who was the first out Major League Baseball player and who currently serves as an MLB vice president, appeared at opening ceremonies.

Trans Kids and Families was among the beneficiaries of money raised during the weekend. Bear Dance partnered with GSWS to up the amount distributed by tens of thousands of dollars.

Black Tie Dinner

Black Tie was back — back in its usual format. During the pandemic, Black Tie did quite a good job of raising money, at least for its local beneficiaries. But this year, the sit-down dinner with its “little garage sale,” as Gov. Ann Richards once called it, returned to the Dallas Sheraton Hotel.

Robert Emery received the Ray Kuchling Humanitarian Award. Denise Lee received the Dale Hanson Ally Award.

Terry Loftis finished his second year as co-chair, and Regina Lyn Pierce will continue as senior co-chair for 2023.
At the November 10 Wrap Party, Black Tie distributed a record $1.5 million to its 18 local beneficiaries and to HRC, its national beneficiary.

Archives for All

LGBTQ history is more than Stonewall. It’s stories of LGBTQ lives from cities across the country. And it was on display Sept. 30-Oct. 2 as The Dallas Way hosted the Queer History South conference at Dallas College–El Centro.
Queer History South is a network of community members from across a 13-state area who share best practices for those collecting LGBTQ histories, archives, exhibits, historical research and education. The organization held its second — and pandemic-delayed — conference, dubbed Archives for All in Dallas.

The conference, with plans to be held biennially, is of interest to archivists, historians, librarians, faculty, students, educators, nonprofit employees and community members working to preserve their community’s narratives.

Former Biden aide Moe Vela and Mandy Carter, co-founder of Southerners on New Ground, the National Black Justice Coalition and Equality North Carolina, were keynote speakers.

Pride in Dallas
Since the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade moved off Cedar Springs Road to Fair Park, a number of community members have felt like Pride has been moved away from the community and fenced off in a park. “Pride is a protest,” they argued. With its move from September to June, they feel as if our local Dallas history has been ignored, since the September parade marked the anniversary of when the Texas sodomy law was first ruled unconstitutional.

So a group of Oak Lawn business leaders and community members decided the only thing better than a Pride parade is two Pride parades.

The 2022 Cedar Springs Pride parade, staged by Pride in Dallas, was a smaller parade — in number of blocks marched and number of entries — than the old parade on the street. But it was a joyous September celebration returning the tradition to The Strip.

Organizers were so happy with the first new Pride parade, they’re already planning for another September Pride in Dallas.

Juneteenth, Holiday Gala
A record number of visitors converged on Dallas the weekend of June 19 to celebrate Gay Pride Month and the new national Juneteenth holiday, said a spokesman for Dallas Southern Pride, one of the primary sponsors for Juneteenth Unity Weekend. And those visitors, the spokesman said, pumped millions of dollars into the local economy.

Estimates indicated at least 20,000 people visited DFW for the celebration, filling local hotels, restaurants and shops. They were treated to three days of events, a block party and a pool party as well as health screenings.
Event organizers vaccinated nearly 100 attendees against COVID-19, the spokesman added.

Kirk Myers, lead organizer, said Dallas Southern Pride said he was “beyond pleased with this year’s unprecedented turnout.”

Then as the year was drawing to a close, Dallas Southern Pride brought in the legendary Patti LaBelle as the special guest performer at the 2022 DSP Holiday Gala, which led a weekend of events raising money for Abounding Prosperity, Inc.

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