The Southlake City Council voted unanimously to deny a permit for the Pride Kel-So festival planned for October at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, despite approving the inaugural event in 2025 that drew about 2,500 people. Councilors offered no public explanation and did not question organizers during the Sept. 15 meeting. Organizers and church leaders called the decision surprising; organizers say they may downsize below the city's 1,000-person permit threshold or seek further clarification from officials.
Southlake Council Unanimously Denies Permit For Church’s Pride Festival After Prior Approval
Wealthy Texas suburb denies permit for church to hold a Pride event
The Southlake City Council voted unanimously this week to deny a permit for Pride Kel-So, a planned October festival at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, reversing its approval of the same event last year.
The decision came during the Sept. 15 council meeting, when only two members of the public spoke: the church's associate pastor, Reverend Ellen Singer, who urged unity, and a resident who called the event "abhorrent." Council members offered no public explanation, asked no questions of the organizers and made no statements on the record about their reasons for denying the permit.
"It's clear there is conflict. It's clear there is some sort of rupture in the community and actually the goal of something like this is to bring people together, to celebrate being a community with one another," Reverend Ellen Singer told Fox 4.
April Dreyson, a co-founder of Pride Kel-So, said she was stunned by the unanimous vote given that the inaugural festival was approved and held in 2025 without incident. That first event, also hosted at St. Martin-in-the-Fields — which sits on the border of Keller and Southlake and inspired the festival's name — drew an estimated 2,500 attendees and featured family-friendly music and vendors.
"We followed all the recommendations and did not expect, especially with no comments, no questions. If they had concerns, they didn't bring them up," Dreyson told Fox 4. In a follow-up Facebook post she suggested that discrimination was the only plausible explanation for the denial, writing that there was "no explanation for the city council's vote other than pure discrimination against a group of people. Zero excuse."
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Southlake, Texas. The church was meant to be the site of the Pride Kel-So festival in October, but the Southlake City Council denied the group a permit for the event despite approving the event the year prior (Google)
Reverend Alan Bentrup, the church's rector, said he was out of town during the meeting but reiterated the church's willingness to host the festival again. He described it as unusual for a single opposing speaker to appear to determine a unanimous council decision.
Festival organizers say they are seeking an explanation from the city. They also say that if the council does not reconsider, they may downsize the event to fewer than 1,000 attendees to avoid the city's permit requirement — gatherings of 1,000 people or more in Southlake require a permit under local rules.
Pilar Schank, a city spokesperson, declined to provide further comment and directed inquiries to the video recording of the Sept. 15 council meeting.
What’s Next
Organizers remain determined to hold Pride Kel-So in some form this October and are exploring alternatives while requesting a clearer rationale from city officials. The dispute has attracted local attention and underscores ongoing tensions around public events celebrating LGBTQ+ communities in some suburbs.
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