Lubbock residents gathered before the city council for a silent rainbow sit-in for the second year in a row on Tuesday, hoping to convince the mayor and council to declare June as Pride Month.
While the topic of Lubbock’s Pride proclamation was not on the meeting agenda, members of the community arranged themselves in a rainbow pattern across the chamber.
In addition to the sit-ins, advocacy for the city of Lubbock to recognize Pride Month the previous two years has included a letter-writing campaign. All of which, organizers and community members said, have gone without adequate response from elected officials.
Kim Gonzalez, who helped organize both sit-ins, said that although a few representatives responded to the requests last year and one council member responded to her email this year, she does not feel that the city has been receptive to those showing up for the queer community.
“And I think that's really unfortunate, because we all pay taxes here,” Gonzalez said. “We all live here. Many of us are homeowners and have graduated from Texas Tech or made our way through the public school systems here. We’re products of Lubbock. And others of us maybe weren't from here originally, but chose this to be their home. And so it's really sad that our leadership doesn't recognize and acknowledge all of the people.”
According to Gonzalez, the push for a Pride proclamation has gotten more attention this year than in 2023, which includes both supporters and critics.
“We had some protesters out here when we were arriving today, holding some hateful signs,” Gonzalez said. “And I had a few words with them on my way in. But in general, no, we don't get a lot of pushback. What is unfortunate is that our city leadership continues to kind of just turn a deaf ear to our requests.”
Organizations like OUTwest Lubbock, LubbockPRIDE, and the Lubbock chapter of PFLAG, have been advocating for the Pride proclamation with the slogan “hate is not a Lubbock value.”
In 2023, the American Civil Liberties Union tracked more than 500 anti-LGBT+ bills in the United States, and 55 in Texas specifically. And in early 2024, several civil rights organizations submitted a letter to the United Nations, arguing that the state of Texas is guilty of human rights violations.
One of the groups behind the letter, Equality Texas, said in a statement that the legislation is a “systemic attack on fundamental rights, dignities, and identities of LGBTQIA+ persons that opens the gates for discrimination by both public and private actors.”
Lubbock has not been exempt from the effect of many of these bills, with controversy surrounding book bans (HB 900), drag performances (SB 12), and the loss of DEI offices at public colleges and universities (SB 17).
As an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, Gonzalez believes it is important to recognize Lubbock's queer population and appreciate what they contribute to the city.
“As our city leaders want to recognize things like World Lemur Day, or a Slaton bakery, or other things– which are all fabulous, I'm sure– that they can also recognize the contributions and the participation of this community as well,” she said.
Gonzalez said there is still plenty of time for Lubbockites to reach out to their council representatives and is hopeful that the city will make a proclamation before the month ends.
KTTZ reached out to the mayor and council for comment on the rainbow sit-in. District 5 representative Dr. Jennifer Wilson said she is “always excited to see new faces in the council chamber” and encourages “all citizens to attend council meetings and be involved in city government.”
Other council members did not respond before the publication of this story. Kim Gonzales said she received a response from district 3 representative David Glasheen when she reached out to him personally about a pride proclamation. According to Gonzales, Glasheen said he was not interested at this time.
