Letter to Dallas Mayor Johnson asking that Visit Dallas not list Crowne Plaza because of their explusion of Gays at Daddyland.
Tourism comes under the Dallas City Council Economic Development committee and there should be a formal inquiry.
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Letter to Dallas Mayor Eric Johns about the Daddyland mass expulsion by Crowne Plaza.
August 8, 2024
Edward H. Sebesta
Dallas, TX 75XXX
Mayor Eric Johnson
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla St.
Dallas, TX 75201
Dear Hon. Johnson:
According to the Advocate hundreds of Gay men were abruptly kicked out of their Crowne Plaza hotel rooms on very short notice on July 6, 2024.
This is a link to the article:
https://www.advocate.com/news/chaos-daddyland-dallas-crowne-plaza
This is another article in the Dallas Observer about hundreds of Gay men being abruptly evicted from their hotel rooms at the Crowne Plaza which they had rented and thrown onto the streets.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/dallas-hotel-kicks-out-hundreds-of-gay-men-19819127
I have a comprehensive report about the abrupt eviction and news coverage of this event at this online post.
Of course I don’t know exactly what happened, I am dependent on these news stories, but I think that near a hundred people were abruptly thrown out of their rented hotel rooms onto the streets on a 4th of July weekend. This is a safety hazard as well as abusive behavior. Did everyone find alternative accommodations? Did some hotel guests sleep on the streets?
If we had a Human Rights Commission we could do a formal inquiry. However, the City of Dallas has refused to create a human rights commission. Fort Worth in contrast, has had one since 1967. I have a report on this in this online post.
Here is a video of Omar Narvaez’s smug response to the issue of Dallas lacking a human rights commission. I think it makes it very clear what a group of LGBT visitors to Dallas who are victimized might expect from the local LGBT community in terms of support, that is nothing.
The response from the local LGBT community in the mass eviction of Daddyland hotel guests constitute a record of what type of support LGBT victims might expect visiting Dallas. They would be further attacked by the local community.
As for the justifications for this mass eviction, the Crowne Plaza hotel had rented to the Daddyland event people before in 2023. They surely new what the event was and what to expect.
https://daddyland.ticketleap.com/daddyland-festival-2023/details
Even if a hotel was not knowledgeable, the mass evictions of ALL the guests associated with the event and throwing them onto the street abruptly and without accommodation, is a human rights violation. It shows a casual contempt for the humanity of Gays in Dallas.
I don’t think Visit Dallas and any other agency or department or organization should be recommending a hotel which does abrupt mass evictions. Such as the following recommendation by Visit Dallas of Crowne Plaza.
https://www.visitdallas.com/directory/crowne-plaza-dallas-downtown/
This mass eviction is yet another objective measure that Dallas isn’t safe for LGBT.
Of course without a human rights commission, it can be expected that Dallas business practices don’t have considerations of human rights.
Since the Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District is under Economic Development, the Dallas City Council Committee, Economic Development should hold hearings on what happened, and how this might be avoided in the future. Alternatively, the City of Dallas could form a human rights commission and one of their first tasks would be to investigate what happened.
Sincerely yours,
Edward H. Sebesta
CC: Dallas City Council members, Chad West, Jesse Moreno, Zarin D. Gracey, Carolyn King Arnold, Jaime Resendez, Omar Narvaez, Adam Bazaldua, Tennell Atkins, Paula Blackmon, Kathy Steward, Jaynie Schultz, Cara Mendelsohn, Gay Donnell Willis, Paul E. Ridley.
