A private Muslim event at a Texas water park was legal. Greg Abbott shut it down anyway.

Texas conservatives fueled anti-Muslim hysteria over an Eid celebration at a rented city-owned facility

This newsletter is free and goes out to over 24,000 subscribers, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can subscribe via Patreon or the Subscribe button below! You can also make one-time donations through Venmo or PayPal.

---

The Christian Nationalists in charge of Texas have shut down a Muslim celebration of the end of Eid al-Adha at a city-owned facility using the excuse that their event was limited to Muslims and therefore discriminatory. Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to withhold $530,000 in public safety funding from the city of Grand Prairie if the June 1 event was allowed to proceed. It’s just the latest example of Republicans using their religious superiority complex to make life worse for non-Christians in the state.

The event in question was “Epic Eid” taking place at Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. While the city-owned park is open to the public most days, groups willing to pay can rent the whole damn place for private events at a cost of at least $5,000/hour. That’s what local Muslims did the past two years when they bought out the place for an Eid celebration. Interested families could buy tickets through the group, knowing that halal food would be served, everyone would be in “modest” swimwear, and there would be space set aside for evening prayers.

To be clear: There’s nothing unusual about this arrangement. Private groups can rent out public facilities and set their own rules for admission. (And it’s perfectly sensible to allow in only members of your group.) The flyer for last year’s event called it a “Muslim-only event” and said the park was “reserved exclusively for the Muslim community.”

There were no complaints about it in the past because why the hell would there be?

That’s why the organizers didn’t think there would be any issue with this year’s identical event:

Unfortunately, they made the mistake of being Muslims in Texas. And when right-wing activists saw this flyer, they knew they could get a rise out of their bigot base by pretending this was an example of Islam taking over their state. The New York Post and conservative commentators pointed to the “Muslims only” description as a blatant case of discrimination and ran with it.

The organizers attempted to fix the issue by revising the flyer to say that anyone was welcome as long as they wore modest clothing and wanted to celebrate Eid. (That was always the case, but it was easier to advertise to the broader Muslim community by saying this was an event exclusively for Muslims.)

Organizer Aminah Knight explained:

“At its core, this event is about creating a space where individuals and families, particularly those who value modest dress and a modest environment, can come together and enjoy a recreational setting comfortably,” Knight wrote, adding that anyone who is “a different faith who wants to celebrate the Eid holiday with us and adhere to the modest dress code” is welcome to attend the event.

For what it’s worth, this is a normal things groups do! Hell, here’s another event at a water park in Texas that’s sponsored by Christians and includes a baptism. (It’s not a perfect comparison—that location isn’t city-owned, for one thing—but it’s the same principle.) Ministries often rent out publicly funded baseball stadiums for massive events, too! Globe Life Field, a publicly funded stadium where the Texas Rangers play baseball, is hosting a Christian event later this year and tickets are limited to people ages 18-25; that’s not age discrimination! It’s also worth pointing out that Christian events don’t normally have to say they’re “Christian only” because the purpose of those events is to baptize or proselytize. This Muslim event wasn’t about converting anybody.

It didn’t matter.

Gov. Abbott immediately acted like this Muslim event was a threat to everyone. He sent a letter to city officials saying he would pull their public safety grants if they didn’t put a stop to this, even comparing it to a “Whites only” event, which is not how analogies work.

In public fliers, organizers described the event as: “MUSLIM ONLY EVENT”; “FOR MUSLIMS ONLY”; and “CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC — MUSLIMS ONLY.” In a tacit admission, organizers have already rushed to delete that language. Now, fliers state that “ALL ARE WELCOME” and the event is restricted only by a requirement of “MODEST DRESS.” The first hint that the broader public is not really welcome, however, is language explaining that any women wishing to attend must wear “burkinis.” The organizer’s website makes matters clearer, stating that “[t]his event is closed to the general public” and “at all times” attendees must “dress in accordance with Islamic values.”’ If there were any doubt remaining, the website dispels it: “The entire waterpark has been exclusively reserved for Muslims.”’

… An event at a city-owned pool that was publicly and indiscriminately advertised as “Whites only” would surely violate the Constitution…

Abbott added on X/Twitter: “ The City must cancel the event and commit to never allowing something like it again by May 11th, or lose $530,000 in state grants. Let this be a lesson to local officials: Facilities funded by ALL taxpayers are not just for a subset of Texans.”

That’s a wild thing to say in the state currently forcing the KJV version of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom… Then again, we’re talking about the same people trying to suppress the power of the Black vote by claiming the Voting Rights Act made them victims of anti-white discrimination.

But this facility isn’t discriminating against anybody. They rent out their space to anyone, and those private parties have every right to set ground rules for who can attend. If I rent a public banquet hall for a religious wedding, I’m allowed to have religious rules during the event. It’s not like the water park is discriminating against non-Muslims. And even the organizers freely admitted they weren’t discriminating either; if you wanted to celebrate Eid with them, you were welcome to come!

Sadly, though, the threat worked.

A spokesperson for the City of Grand Prairie said Thursday the city canceled the DFW Epic Eid Celebration scheduled for June 1 at the Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark.

“After further review and in the best interest of the City of Grand Prairie, the June 1 Eid event at Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark has been canceled,” the spokesperson said.

Notice that the city didn’t admit any discrimination was taking place. Because there was none. It appears that the city’s “best interest” is simply to not fight this battle. I don’t blame them. That said, they gave a bizarre explanation to Knight as to why they were canceling: They said she hadn’t made the proper payments. Knight told FOX 4 she had been trying to make those payments for several days. If that’s true, the city’s excuse could be their way to avoid any potential lawsuit.

Knight doesn’t seem like she’s going to file any lawsuit right now, but you better believe she’s confused about why this is a problem:

Organizer Aminah Knight (screenshot via FOX 4)

“Last year the flyer said, come on out to celebrate the Eid. This will be a Muslim-only event. I just want to clarify that because it’s celebrating the Eid holiday — I mean who celebrates the Eid holiday? Muslims, right?” Knight said. “It was my way of letting the Muslim community know, hey, I’ve curated something just for you.”

She said in a follow-up statement:

I am deeply disappointed that DFW Epic Eid has been canceled.

What began as a private event for the Muslim community to celebrate Eid in a joyful and modest environment became something much bigger than I ever imagined. The flyer was originally shared within private community spaces, but it was later circulated more broadly by people who were not interested in attending, but rather in creating division and controversy.

While I did receive hateful messages from people who misunderstood the event, I also believe this moment sparked important conversations about Muslims in America and how our community is viewed.

My faith is not something to fear.

Not because I am personally afraid of disagreement, but because fear and misunderstanding can grow into discrimination, and that is dangerous for any society. When people begin to see their neighbors as foreign or as though they do not belong, it weakens the fabric of our nation.

I was born here. I was raised here. I was educated here. I belong here. I am proud to be both Muslim and American. I have spent nearly 20 years serving my community as an educator and attended NYU, USC, and Vanderbilt University.

And despite the negativity, I still choose conversation over division.

So this Fourth of July, I will be partnering with brothers and sisters from other faith communities to host an interfaith event called "The Great American Cookout," where people from different backgrounds can come together, connect, and truly get to know one another as fellow Americans.

Although this experience has been painful, my faith teaches me that within every difficulty there is ease.

And I believe something beautiful can still come from this.

She’s a better person than Abbott and his Christian Nationalist allies can ever hope to be. (Dr. Knight did not respond to my request for further comment.)

A lot of the backlash to this online comes from people who clearly don’t understand the situation. They’re acting like this is taxpayer-funded promotion of Islam when it’s nothing like that. Abbott and his fellow Republicans are jumping on that ignorance to fuel even more anti-Muslim bigotry.

But this isn’t complicated. The city wasn’t denying anyone access to a government facility. A private group rented out a public facility for a private celebration, the same way that churches, youth groups, sports leagues, and conservative organizations do all the time. The only reason this suddenly became a crisis is because the people hosting the event were Muslim. That’s it. By pretending this private Eid gathering was equivalent to some kind of Jim Crow segregation, Abbott and his allies manufactured outrage, which is all they know how to do because they’re never really victims of anything.

The hypocrisy here is impossible to ignore. Republicans routinely weaponize the language of “fairness,” “public access,” and “religious liberty” when it can be used against minorities they don’t like. The message to Muslims is clear: You can exist on society only as long as Christians are comfortable. The moment you dare to publicly celebrate your faith, a Christian-run government will be mobilized against you. (Remember that Abbott lost a case where he tried to block atheists from putting up a display inside the Capitol.)

The most telling thing in this whole controversy is how the two sides reacted. Knight responded with grace, outreach, and an invitation to interfaith understanding. Abbott responded with threats, intimidation, and demagoguery. Republicans don’t care about religious equality; the moment a non-Christian group wants to do what Christians do all the time, they’ll be under attack as long as these people are in charge.

---