Dallas' LGBTQ Community Reacts to Election Results With Courage and Resolve

Going into the 2024 election, many in Dallas’ LGBTQ community were feeling cautiously optimistic.

Javan Gonzalez, a precinct chair for the Dallas Democratic Party, was in good spirits while campaigning at the Oak Lawn Branch of the Dallas Public Library, a popular polling location in Dallas’ historic “gayborhood,” on Tuesday.

“I think we are hopeful and anxious,” Gonzalez told the Observer. “At the end of the day — gay, straight, trans — they all want the same thing. They want to live their life and be happy and free.”

Gonzalez came armed with pocket-sized voting guides listing pro-LGBTQ candidates. High-profile Democrats Kamala Harris, Colin Allred and Jasmine Crockett were predictably at the top of the bill, but the guide included candidates all the way down the ballot, including John R. Ames for Dallas County tax assessor-collector and Katherine Culbert for railroad commissioner.

“As the minority party in Texas, our Dallas representatives are very important in representing us on a state level,” Gonzalez says. “They advocate against some of the more extreme legislation that comes through. [...] They killed a lot of bills or tried to kill a lot of bills in the committees that would harm our community.”

During last year’s legislative session, Texas lawmakers passed a staggering number of bills targeting the LGBTQ community, with a particular focus on transgender people and drag performers.

Senate Bill 12, for instance, criminalized sexually explicit performances in front of children, but was originally designed to restrict minors from attending drag shows. Though language explicitly referring to drag was removed, references to “accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics” remain.

On Tuesday night, Station 4 in Oak Lawn hosted the “fiercest and most patriotic” watch party in Dallas. Local drag queens Marsha Dimes, Shantae Morgan, Velma K. L’Amour and Kylee O’Hara Fatale performed in character as Kamala Harris.

The performances were exuberant and lighthearted, with Dimes stealing the show as Ted Cruz leaving for Cancun during the 2021 winter storm (suitcase and all) and Fatale lip-syncing to classic soundbites from Harris (and Maya Rudolph as Harris on Saturday Night Live).

The anxiety was palpable even before the queens took the stage. When we spoke to Fatale backstage at around 7:45 p.m., Donald Trump’s lead was already dampening the party atmosphere.

Fatale is no stranger to working under these circumstances. She was incorporating current events into her performances long before donning the Kamala wig and is an ambassador for Drag Out the Vote, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting voting rights.

“I’ve been very active in politics with my drag,” Fatale tells us. “I remember the year that Hillary Clinton [ran for] the presidency. I was in the middle of a show and the whole show just stopped and was canceled. With this show .. .I know the world sucks right now, but we’re trying to give you some joy.”

Fatale says that regardless of the outcome, she will remain steadfast in her mission to entertain and educate through drag.

“A lot of people were really scared when drag was attacked, but I was not fazed,” she says. “I knew we weren’t going anywhere. We are literally party clowns that look fabulous. I’m just confident in my community that we’re not going to get fazed by this. [...] I make sure to keep calm and carry on. Keep calm-ala.”
After Trump was projected to win the presidency and Republicans such as Ted Cruz won control of the Senate, reactions from LGBTQ advocates nationwide were swift.

Brad Pritchett, interim CEO of advocacy group Equality Texas, still believes Cruz’s days in the Senate are numbered.

“While Ted Cruz may have won this election, his tenure won’t last much longer,” Pritchett said in a statement in the press. Until the next election, we will continue to hold him accountable for his words and actions. Texas has the second-largest LGBTQIA+ population in the country, and we’re also Ted’s constituents.”

Pritchett’s statement also called for celebrating the victory of Julie Johnson, who will be representing Texas’ 32nd Congressional district, which includes parts of Dallas, Collin and Denton counties.

“Julie Johnson's victory tonight as the first openly queer representative from the South is historic,” he wrote. “These victories push us toward a brighter future for LGBTQIA+ Texans.”

Kevin Jennings, CEO of nonprofit LGBTQ legal advocate Lambda Legal, echoed the message of perseverance heard throughout the election.

“We won’t sugarcoat this — last night’s election results were incredibly detrimental to the cause of equality,” Jennings said in a statement to the Observer. “Lambda Legal has been strategizing and planning for this possibility, and we will expend every energy to hold the line. [...] Lambda Legal successfully blocked multiple attacks by the first Trump administration, and we are ready to oppose any anti-LGBTQ+ actions this new administration takes.”