(Texas Scorecard) – City Council members have cut $30,000 in funding for its monthly Art Trail event over a sexualized drag show performance accused of promoting the LGBT agenda.
The First Friday Art Trail is a free, public exhibition held in the city’s downtown Cultural District on the first Friday of every month.
For years, the city has supported the event—considered an integral part of Texas’ art scene—through a Hotel Occupancy Tax grant to help the featured art centers, museums, galleries, and local businesses.
However, City Councilmember David Glasheen and Mayor Mark McBrayer aired concerns on Wednesday over event organizers using some of those public funds for LGBT exhibits and even a drag show.
Glasheen pointed out that in June, the Art Trail began offering programs for Pride Month like “Queering Texas—a child-friendly LGBT workshop,” displays encouraging more inclusive language, and even drag performances.
“The intention is to offer full drag performances on the Art Trail in the next year,” Glasheen told the City Council.
Glasheen further shared his concern over “a broader trend across the state,” noting examples like Fort Worth funding the Trinity Pride Fest at the city’s Magnolia Green Park and another event in Arlington featuring sexually explicit content in front of minors.
McBrayer later jumped in to share his thoughts:
I see some people shaking their heads in the audience, but the fact of the matter is, drag queen performances are sexualized. We have no business spending tax money promoting that for an event that’s supposed to be, I believe, family-friendly.
The motion to strip the funding passed with six votes, with Mayor Mark McBrayer and Councilmembers Jennifer Wilson, Tim Collins, Brayden Rose, Gordon Harris, and Glasheen supporting it. Councilmember Christy Martinez-Garcia voted against the motion.
Glasheen told Texas Scorecard that he “led an effort to decline the grant” because he believes “it is wrong to target children and families with sexual content.”
“Tax dollars should not be used to promote or support causes that conflict with our West Texas values,” explained the council member.
The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, which operates the Art Trail, has since claimed that the drag show performance in question was not held on LHUCA property, but rather property owned by a separate entity.
“There was no reason to cut this vital funding for a beloved community event,” argued LHUCA in a statement following the decision. “We are saddened to see First Friday Art Trail suffer as a result of this decision by the Lubbock City Council.”
Texas Family Project CEO Brady Gray applauded the Lubbock City Council for its decision in a statement provided to Texas Scorecard, calling on “municipalities across the state” to follow the city’s lead.
“The good people of Lubbock should remember the action of the member who dissented and begin working now to see a City Council makeup that is united in doing what is right,” added Gray.