In honor of Pride month, Tech Bloc and Rackspace are inviting the community to meet Eric Edward Schell of Pride Portraits and have their photos taken at a special event that aims to “celebrate diversity in our city and tech scene.” Dubbed June #Tech2sDay, the event will take place on June 12 at Consafos Cocina…
2017 in Review: A Year in the Life of LGBT SA
A select month-by-month recap of stories about our community reported here and elsewhere in 2017. JANUARY Jeffrey James is Fiesta Cornyation’s King Anchovy LII The board of directors of Fiesta Cornyation, billed as “the raunchiest, cheapest event of Fiesta,” announced in January that this year’s King Anchovy LII was Jeffrey James, the proprietor of James…
Allies United: Thank You for Being a Friend
Updated October 12, 2017. In our efforts to champion each aspect of the ever-broadening LGBTQIA* umbrella, we’ve trained our focus on the letter “A.” Since the LGBTQIA* acronym has expanded and shifted over decades (and was not created by one sole entity), it’s important to note that different letters mean different things to different people:…
Allies United: Texas State Representative Diego Bernal
Texas State Representative Diego Bernal Despite the fact that both of his parents, his father a farmworker and his mother an educator, were civil rights activists in their own realms, State Representative and former San Antonio Councilman Diego Bernal told Out In SA, with the kind of unsparing candor that is so needed, that he…
Thousands of Young LGBT Immigrants in Texas DACA Program Face Deportation
There are approximately 6,000 LGBT immigrants among the 134,000 individuals in Texas who enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, according to a study by the Williams Institute. All of these people now face deportation after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Tuesday that the DACA program is being terminated. The…
Mayor Nirenberg to Participate in SA’s Pride Parade
Newly-elected Mayor Ron Nirenberg will make history when he becomes the second mayor of San Antonio to participate in the Pride Bigger Than Texas Parade, which this year takes place on Saturday, July 1. James Poindexter, board secretary of Pride San Antonio, told Out In SA Nirenberg has been named a Grand Marshal for the…
House Spars Over Whether New State Bar Rules Would Open Door to Discrimination
By Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune May 15, 2017 As part of an ongoing push by some Republicans to insert religious freedom protections into state agency review bills, House lawmakers on Monday sparred over attempts to amend the State Bar of Texas sunset bill in a way that opponents say could open up prospective LGBT…
Keeping Track of Pro and Anti-LGBT Bills in Texas Legislature
The 85th Texas Legislature opened on January 10, starting a 140-day work session with a Republican majority. So far this session, 17 pro-LGBT bills and four anti-LGBT bills have been filed. Among the bills proposed to benefit LGBT Texans is legislation repealing laws that are still on the books which punish homosexual conduct; prohibiting discrimination…
Dan Patrick Denies Bathroom Bill Will Hurt Texas
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says the bathroom bill (SB6) that was introduced last week by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, and which he is championing, will not have an economic impact as Texas business leaders have warned. SB6 bars transgender people from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity. In an interview with the Texas…
Bernal Files First Pro-LGBT Bill of Texas Legislative Session
By Daniel Williams, Guest Contributor And we’re off! The first pro-LGBT bill of the session was filed by Rep. Diego Bernal (D-San Antonio) and it’s HB 192. The bill would prohibit discrimination in housing on the basis of gender identity or expression and sexual orientation. HB 192 is identical to Rep. Bernal’s HB 2860 filed…