People in the Oak Lawn/Cedar Springs area were already on alert from a recent spate of assaults and robberies that hit Dallas' gayborhood within about a month. Then came Memorial Day weekend. Early in the morning of May 26, a mugger assaulted and tried to rob[1] a man behind the main strip of bars and nightclubs on Cedar Springs. The victim pulled a handgun and shot his assailant, sending him fleeing to the hospital.
Recent attacks — at least seven in the area — have set off calls by community watchdogs for customers and residents to stay vigilant when moving around the neighborhood. Some commenters on Facebook go further, saying each attack is cause to arm themselves. While the shooting over Memorial Day weekend bolstered the argument for self-protection, business owners and bar-goers the Observer spoke with mostly agree the neighborhood has no need for an armed gay militia.
The shooting got some people thinking about political narratives surrounding queer communities. Draw a Venn diagram based on the stereotypical view of queer politics and gun rights supporters, and the result would likely be queer people on the left and gun people on the right. That setup leaves a lot to be misunderstood about the Oak Lawn neighborhood.
“The gay community is a tapestry of everyone,” says John Uppole, who works at Out of the Closet on the strip. “You have gay Republicans, you have gays from the most feminine to the most masculine.”
But no one expects to see that tapestry decorating the local gun range. One Observer staffer recalls visiting gun shows in South Texas in the early '90s, when, in addition to a good deal on a weapon, buyers could find tables of homophobic bumper stickers and signs.
That was a
