a texas city killed a church's pride festival without saying why. they can still hold it, as long as fewer than a thousand people come.

via FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth and KRLD

The Southlake city council took up the Pride Kel-So festival on Tuesday night, asked no questions, offered no comments, and voted unanimously to kill it.

why the permit was denied

The festival was booked for October 3 on the grounds of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, an Episcopal church that wanted it there. The city's own planning and zoning commission had recommended approving it, 5 to 1, after organizers agreed to shrink the footprint, KRLD reported. Council overrode that without a word. A city spokeswoman told KRLD she did not know why, and Mayor Shawn McCaskill and the council members did not respond to the station.

Here is the part worth sitting with. Last year's festival needed no permit, because organizers estimated the crowd at under a thousand. Then people came: KRLD puts the 2025 turnout around 1,600, FOX 4 as high as 2,500. Southlake requires a specific use permit once an event expects more than a thousand. The festival crossed that line by being beloved, and the reward is a permit the council will not grant and will not discuss.

"We followed all the recommendations and did not expect, especially with no comments, no questions," said April Dreyson, a co-founder. One speaker did object, citing the protesters who showed up in 2025, which is a novel theory of public safety: the event is a hazard because of the people who came to be angry at it.

what the church says

"It's clear there is conflict. It's clear there is some sort of rupture in the community," said the Rev. Ellen Singer. "We believe God's love is for everyone," said the Rev. Alan Bentrup. There is a whole genre of American story in which the church is the villain of the Pride event, and Southlake has filmed the reverse shot.

Organizers are reviewing their options, and the obvious one is to hold it anyway, just smaller. Everyone is welcome to be as gay as they like on that lawn in October. There just cannot be too many of them. We have seen this move before, in a Virginia school district that found a rulebook the moment a gay club wanted to use it. It is never a ban. It is always a form.