Tulsa Street Renamed Ahead Of Tulsa Pride Weekend

Tulsa's Pride weekend starts Friday and part of a downtown street has been renamed in honor of the event.

Oklahomans for Equality said it spent several months trying to make Pride Street happen, and Friday it finally became a reality.

Tina Lucero was at the dedication. She said she's thankful but not surprised to see Tulsans showing support for people like her daughter Jessica, who is transgender, and another daughter who's a lesbian.

"Any kind of place that we go to and they find out she's trans, I've never yet had one person have a negative comment. They're like, 'Oh, that's great,' or 'You're an awesome mom. You're accepting,'" she said.

Oklahomans for Equality said they worked with Tulsa Young Professionals to buy the signs declaring 4th Street from Elgin to Lansing as Pride Street.

They said no taxpayer money was used to pay for it.

"In our community, you'll hear a lot of, 'I didn't think I would've lived to see the day,' because we've been so marginalized, discriminated," said Jose Vega with Oklahomans for Equality.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum was there for the ribbon cutting to begin this year's Pride Weekend.

5/22/2018 Related Story: 4 Tulsa City Blocks Renamed 'Pride Street' Ahead Of Festival

This is the 36th year for the Tulsa Pride Festival; and while the event is in full swing, some downtown Tulsa streets will close for most of the weekend.

Oklahomans for Equality said the festival will run along 4th Street from Elgin to Lansing - that area is already blocked.

Boston from 4th to 13th streets and 4th Street from Boston to Lansing will close Saturday for the parade. They said streets should reopen Sunday at noon.

Pride Weekend is one of several downtown events this weekend, including the First Friday Art Crawl and both George Strait and Jerry Seinfeld concerts.