Arlington Pride 2026 is suspended until the City Council reinstates anti-discrimination policies that provide local protections for LGBTQ people, event organizers announced Friday.
DeeJay Johannessen, CEO of the HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health, said he did not want to invite attendees to a city without local protections.
“Pride is about safety, celebration, and community. Without local anti-discrimination safeguards, we cannot guarantee those values for our attendees, performers, or partners,” Johannessen said in a news release.
Mayor Jim Ross said he was disappointed about the event’s suspension while city leaders discuss options for LGBTQ protections. He said he has planned meetings with council members, HELP Center leadership and city attorney Molly Shortall to discuss the ordinance.
“I’m hoping that we work through our issues here, that they reinstate it and go from there,” Ross said. “Let’s not make a difficult situation more difficult by doing this type of thing.”
Arlington City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday night to not reinstate the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, which included protections for those identifying as part of the LGBTQ community. Ross was one of the four who voted to reinstate.
The ordinance was suspended in September and allowed the city to investigate reports of discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.
The ordinance builds upon protected classes under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, extending those protections to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Some council members who voted to not reinstate the ordinance said they feared the city could lose $65 million in federal funding. On the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term, he issued an executive order saying cities will lose their federal grants if they have “radical and wasteful government programs.”
Johannessen’s organization launched Arlington Pride in 2021. This year’s event in June drew more than 15,000 attendees to the Levitt Pavilion, organizers previously told the Arlington Report.
Johannessen said the event would not return until the protections are brought back.
“Once those protections are reinstated, we look forward to hosting what has become one of Arlington’s favorite events,” Johannessen said.
He said that it’s too early to talk about other options for pride events in Arlington, should the HELP Center’s position remain the same.
During this summer’s event, Ross made a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month. However, the event is not held in partnership with the city.
“If somebody else wanted to come in and do it, that’s something between them and the Levitt Pavilion,” Ross said. “And I would continue to support all communities here in Arlington the way I have been doing for the last nearly five years.”
This is a developing story and will be frequently updated.
Chris Moss is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@fortworthreport.org.
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