Gay singer-songwriter Bobby Jo Valentine will perform in San Antonio on Friday, March 6 in a House Party Concert to benefit ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans For Full Participation. Valentine is a traveling troubadour who has independently produced three albums: A Place to Belong, By My Side and most recently, Home. On his website, Valentine’s music is portrayed…
The QSA
S.A. trans student seeks acceptance at Memorial High
A transgender student at Memorial High School on San Antonio’s Southwest Side stood up to school officials on February 25 to demand that his gender identity be acknowledged. Jayden Blake Castillo, who is now a senior, has been a student in the Edgewood Independent School District for four years, having attended John F. Kennedy High School,…
Rep. Debbie Riddle would jail trans people in ‘wrong’ bathroom
Texas state Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) has filed House Bill 1748 that would make it a misdemeanor for a transgender person to use a public restroom that matches their gender identity and would punish business owners who would allow them to do so. Punishment for breaking Riddle’s bathroom law would be up to one year in…
Activist’s birthday fundraiser marks 5th year
Ana Alicia Perez says she’s often asked what possessed her to turn her annual birthday party into a fundraiser. Her response: “I don’t want want or need anything, so donate instead.” Over the past five years, Perez’s birthday events have helped support a pet rescue group, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation, the Children’s Hospital, Battered…
Lesbian couple in Austin get marriage license, wed at county clerk’s office
Updated: Feb. 21, 2015, 11:35 a.m. The Austin American Statesman reports that a lesbian couple in Austin got married this morning after a state district judge ordered the Travis County clerk to issue the women a marriage license. The couple was married by a rabbi in front of the county clerk’s office. This first same-sex…
Why the marriage equality argument might be premature
There’s something terribly wrong with the way we report and respond to LGBT hate crimes in this country. Maybe the fight for marriage equality has distracted us from the fact that in an overwhelming majority of the U.S., the struggle to simply be a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans individual trumps the struggle to marry…
Town Hall to address housing discrimination
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has played a leading role in administering the Fair Housing Act which was adopted in 1968 and prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of housing to racial minorities, women, and other groups. The Fair Housing Act does not expressly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender…
A community that’s about inclusion: Interim Police Chief Anthony Treviño
Anthony Treviño, the former chief of staff to outgoing police chief William McManus, was named interim police chief last December and began his new assignment January 1. Treviño, is a native San Antonian and an Air Force veteran who has been with the SAPD for 20 years. He started out as a patrol cop and…
Travis County judge rules Texas marriage ban unconstitutional
The Austin American Statesman is reporting that a probate judge in Travis County, Texas has ruled that the state’s ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. According to the American Statesman’s report: [Judge Guy] Herman ruled as part of an estate fight in which Austin resident Sonemaly Phrasavath sought to have her eight-year relationship to Stella…
Robert Salcido reports on Creating Change 2015
The National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change convened in Denver, Colorado, February 4-8, 2015, for it’s 27th annual conference. Those in the movement and social justice circles may very well know exactly what Creating Change is all about. For those not in the know, it is the largest gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,…