El Paso has started installing Pride-themed decorative cylinders on streetlights around Pride Square this week, adding fresh color to Stanton Street between Franklin and Missouri avenues just as Pride Month events begin to fill the city’s calendar.
The decorations are going up at a moment when the area is already a focal point for June celebrations. Pride Month events are returning to El Paso across Downtown and other parts of the Borderland, and city officials said the new streetlight cylinders are meant to make Pride Square more visible during the month’s activities and gatherings.
That visibility matters because the square’s rainbow crosswalks have already been pulled into a wider political fight in Texas. In October 2025, Gov. Greg Abbott directed state transportation officials to seek the removal of what he called ideological road markings in cities across the state, including El Paso’s rainbow-themed crosswalks near Pride Square. City officials later said the crosswalks would stay in place while they reviewed legal and jurisdictional questions tied to the directive.
This year’s calendar gives the decorations a practical purpose. Pride Month in El Paso includes markets, museum events, sports-themed Pride nights, community runs and large Downtown celebrations put together by local businesses, nonprofits and advocacy groups. The fifth annual Pride Market returns to Ardovino’s Desert Crossing on Saturday, May 30, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with queer-owned and ally vendors, live entertainment and health initiatives. The event is set to include brunch, a drag show by the Touch Bar Dolls, story time with Dede Camacho, music by DJ Rach Oh and opportunities for blood donation and health screenings.
Other events follow through June. The El Paso Museum of Art will host its third annual POSE at the Museum in partnership with El Paso Sun City Pride, with a grand marshal ceremony, star lighting and drag performances. El Paso Sun City Pride will also stage a fundraiser during Pride Night with the El Paso Locomotive FC, where a portion of ticket sales from the match against Phoenix Rising FC will help cover the group’s operating expenses. The El Paso Chihuahuas will host a Pride Night celebration at Southwest University Park against the Reno Aces, with baseball, music, vendors and community activities centered on inclusion and unity. El Paso Sun City Pride and the Border AIDS Partnership will then hold an evening Pride/AIDS 5K Run and 1K Walk, described as family-friendly and open to participants of all fitness levels.
The new cylinders make one thing plain: even as the crosswalks remain tangled in the state dispute, El Paso is moving ahead with visible Pride Month markers around Pride Square. What stays up after June is still the open question.
