Mayor will be out of the country on a prior commitment; leaders say his absence is not a slight to the community

Mayor Tom Leppert

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert won’t be in this year’s gay Pride parade, breaking a string of six straight appearances at the event by the city’s top elected official.

Leppert was in the parade last year, his first in office, after Laura Miller participated in each of her five years as mayor. Miller, the first Dallas mayor to appear in the parade, will be one of two grand marshals in 2008.

Chris Heinbaugh, Leppert’s openly gay chief of staff, said this week that the mayor will be out of the country on a previously scheduled trip during the 25th annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade, which is set for Sept. 21. Heinbaugh declined to publicly discuss details of the personal trip for privacy reasons.

“This was a trip that had been planned for quite a long time,” he said.

Heinbaugh added that he believes Leppert will appear in future Pride parades.

“He had a great time last year,” Heinbaugh said. “I’m not going to commit for every year because you never know, but he would have absolutely no problem continuing to do the parade.”

It was unclear this week how many of the other 14 Dallas City Council members will participate in this year’s parade.

Michael Doughman, executive director of the Dallas Tavern Guild, which puts on the parade, said about 10 council members were at gay Pride in 2007. Doughman said he expects about the same number this year. The deadline for council members to respond to invitations is Friday, Aug. 22.

Neither Doughman nor Jeff Strater, vice president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, said they had a problem with Leppert skipping the parade this year.

“I think his very visible presence last year was really important to our community and it said a lot,” said Strater, who noted that the mayor chose to walk the parade route and interact with spectators. “I think the fact that he has a scheduling conflict — I don’t think he’s slighting our community at all.”

Leppert, whose support for the LGBT community was questioned during last summer’s mayoral runoff against openly gay former City Councilman Ed Oakley, since has impressed advocates with his outreach.

In addition to hiring Heinbaugh, Leppert has attended and spoken at numerous LGBT events, including the annual fundraising Black Tie Dinner. Heinbaugh said Leppert is scheduled to be at Black Tie again this November.

Doughman noted that Leppert signed a proclamation for this year’s parade that will be presented by Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Elba Garcia.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” Doughman said of Leppert’s absence. “I don’t’ think that our community and our relationship to our mayor is defined by the parade. I think it’s much more defined by the things he does to support our community throughout the year. … I think it would be a different issue if he just didn’t want to be there.”