AUSTIN, Texas — Organizer’s for this year’s Austin Pride events announced after two weekend mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, they are taking extra precautions to make sure the annual festival is secure.
- Heavy security presence at events
- 400,000 people expected to attend
- Parade is August 10
Austin Pride is a 10-day festival and celebration for the Central Texas LGBTQIA+ community. More than 400,000 people are expected to attend this year with a parade taking place on August 10.
“This, like many communities, is one that is often on the end of these types of attacks or this type of treatment. We also take that into consideration when we put these plans together. However, we will be reevaluating our plan as a result of what happened this past weekend and making sure that we are comfortable that we are providing the highest level of security,” said Chief Brian Manley, of the Austin Police Department.
Austin Pride organizers say the events will have a heavy security presence. Their statements reads as follows:
The shootings from this weekend are nothing short of heartbreaking. The mass murders of our people is criminal and change and justice must occur quickly. Our Ohio and El Paso neighbors follow in a long legacy of terror within our own borders and we cannot continue in this manner. No other country experiences this. We must change the system that has created a climate of living in constant fear and the resulting despair of these increasingly common incidents.
Austin Pride is a 10 day celebration of people, individuality, and freedom. In light of this weekends’ mass shootings, we’d like to inform our attendees and volunteers that safety is always paramount. We a have heavy security presence through drones, plain-clothed and uniformed police, sheriff, and SWAT forces at our annual Pride Parade and heavy security at our festival, where weapons are strictly prohibited. This is the standard yearly, which comes as an infringement of rights to some, and an overwhelming presence of protection to others. This year we will be increasing measures as safety is paramount and in a climate of armed terror, we are cutting no corners.
To those who lost a loved one this weekend, we hold you deeply in our hearts and we will support action and change, we will march on the front lines with you. That’s what freedom and unity are and we cannot let terror win.