SAN ANTONIO, Tx — Just one day after Governor Greg Abbott threatened to withhold funding over rainbow crosswalks members of the LGBTQ+ community united at the Love Thy Neighbor Community Forum.
Although the forum’s primary focus was gender-neutral identification and defying state repression many wanted to talk about potentially losing a symbol of love in the Pride Cultural Heritage District. Lyn-Z Andrews, the first transwoman radio personality on Tejano Radio feels the LGBTQ+ community is being unfairly targeted.
“This LGBTQIA historical district needs, and should, and will have that crosswalk at that corner because we fought long and hard for it,” Andrews said. “We deserve it.”
Instead of protesting, organizers of the forum asked supporters to make their voices heard at city council meetings. Pride San Antonio’s secretary, James Poindexter says the community paid a majority of the funds for the crosswalk.
“We need everyone to call their city council members to let them know how important it is to us,” Poindexter said.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones gave encouraging words to the LGBTQ+ community during Council Chambers
“We don’t need crosswalks for pride, right?” Ortiz Jones said. “They’re nice to have but the pride rolls on.”
District 10 councilman Marc Whyte understands the rainbow crosswalk means a lot to people, but he says right now the city cannot afford to lose funding.
“We have to remove the rainbow crosswalk,” Whyte said. “If we don’t the city is subject to losing a lot of state funding that we need for our infrastructure needs in our city.”
District 5 councilwoman Teri Castillo feels differently.
The rainbow crosswalk is currently fully functional and safe. At a time when many of our neighborhoods still lack basic infrastructure like sidewalks, crosswalks, and other traffic calming measures, spending funds on removing a functioning crosswalk would be fiscally irresponsible.