State Rep. Eric Johnson (D-Dallas) has filed a bill in the Texas House that would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. HB 850, which was filed on January 16, would add LGBTQ protections to current state law that only covers race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin or age.…
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. The Joan Mitchell Foundation recently announced the 2018 recipients of its Painters and Sculptors grants, and this year’s list includes none other than Jose Villalobos of San Antonio, the lone Texas artist to receive $25,000 in unrestricted funds. San Antonio artists who’ve previously received the grant include Ruth…
Azul Barrientos will present her first monthly Noche Azul concert of the year on January 26 at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center where she will be joined by jazz pianist Aaron Prado. Barrientos, who is from Mexico City, has been artist-in-residence at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center since 2007 where her monthly Noche…
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. Starring Liz Bouk and Jose Rubio, the contemporary opera As One tells the story of Hannah Before and Hannah After, the sole protagonist on her journey of self-realization and transition. Since its premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2014, the 75-minute chamber opera has become one…
A San Antonio transgender woman has just become the founding president of the San Antonio chapter of the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals (NAGLREP), making her the first trans person to be in a leadership position with the organization. For Jamie Zapata, helping establish NAGLREP’s local chapter is a career milestone.…
Since its New York premiere in 2014, Laura Kaminsky’s chamber opera As One has earned significant buzz while challenging the often-overstuffed confines of opera itself. Counted by Opera America as “the most produced new opera in North America” and dubbed by the Los Angeles Times as “the every(wo)man transgender opera,” it employs a minimalist cast…
The leaders of PFLAG San Antonio and Fiesta Youth are extending an invitation to other LGBTQ groups to join a unified effort to march together at the Martin Luther King, Jr. March on January 21. “The struggle for equal rights for all, is far from over. Together we are stronger,” the invitation exclaims. Participants are…
A man was shot as he and a friend scuffled with a security guard at around 1 a.m on Saturday, January 12 at Club Essence, located at 800 Lexington Avenue. According to a report on KSAT-TV, the security guard asked a highly intoxicated man to leave the club because he was bothering patrons. When the…
Five Democratic legislators serving in the Texas House of Representative have formed the State Legislature’s first-ever LGBTQ Caucus. The new caucus is composed of veteran lawmakers Rep. Mary Gonzalez of El Paso, Rep. Celia Israel of Austin and newly-elected members Jessica Gonzalez of Dallas, Julie Johnson of Carrollton and Erin Zwiener of Driftwood. The caucus…
By Emma Platoff, The Texas Tribune At a Governor’s Mansion press conference on the second day of this year’s legislative session, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — who last session was the top state leader championing the measure, which would have regulated the use of certain public facilities for transgender Texans — suggested there’s no need…
