San Antonio Express-News columnist Gilbert Garcia reports that a former male stripper has thrown his hat into the mayoral race. Pogo Mochello Allen-Reese told Garcia that he worked as an exotic dancer in Louisiana after serving in the Army during the Persian Gulf War. Allen-Reese’s web page proclaims that he is now a “Slave of…
Thrive Youth Center readies opening at Haven for Hope
It looks like the efforts aimed at finding a space for the Thrive Youth Center for homeless LGBT youth may soon come to fruition thanks to a partnership with Haven for Hope, the city’s homeless services campus. Looking ahead, Thrive could open as soon as mid-February. Things have changed since last December when the Travis…
BEAT AIDS observes National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
The BEAT AIDS Coalition has organized a week of events in advance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day which is observed this year on February 7. The national website for the observance explains, “February 7, 2015 marks the 15th year for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a national HIV testing and treatment community mobilization initiative…
MCC’s Love’s Day banquet a tribute to Jim Isaman
When the Metropolitan Community Church of San Antonio holds the annual Love’s Day Dinner and Dance this year, it will be following a tradition started years ago by now-deceased activist Jim Isaman. Isaman, who died in 2009, was the originator of the Love’s Day tradition, which in years past included a Valentine’s Day commitment ceremony…
Local activist reminds Express-News that Chief McManus was an ally
On December 27, 2014, the San Antonio Express-News ran an in-depth article by Michelle Casady chronicling the tenure of former Police Chief William McManus, who retired at the end of the year to take a job with CPS Energy. The comprehensive write-up included many of the chief’s accomplishments. However, it neglected to mention anything about…
Trans dad misses his kids
It’s been over a year since Dino Villarreal has seen the two boys he helped bring up since birth. The boys he took care of when they were sick. The boys with whom he played basketball and rode bikes to the park. The boys who for their entire lives have called him dad. In 2011,…
UltraViolet and GetEqual protest rapes at Karnes detention center
Two groups are staging a vigil on Thursday, January 22 at the Karnes County Civil Detention Center, where undocumented immigrant families are housed and where evidence has emerged of ongoing sexual assaults of women detained in the facility. UltraViolet, a national group that is “mobilized to fight sexism and expand women’s rights, from politics and…
Mayor Taylor says political correctness is ‘frustrating’
In an interview published this week in the San Antonio Current, Mayor Ivy R. Taylor tells interviewer Jade Esteban Estrada that she finds political correctness “frustrating.” The interview was published on Wednesday, January 13. In it Estrada and Taylor discuss her time in office and the issues she’s been dealing with since she was appointed…
S.A. transgender dad seeks visitation rights
A San Antonio transgender man, who helped raise two boys while in a committed relationship with their mother, is seeking a ruling from the Fourth Court of Appeals that would allow him to see the kids on a regular basis. Dino Villarreal was coupled with Sandra Sandoval, the children’s mother. He helped raise the two…
Church of the Good Shepherd hosts ‘Reconciling Sunday’
By Rev. Charles Fredrickson, Guest Contributor San Antonio’s Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd is holding its annual Reconciling in Christ Sunday on January 25 at 10:30 a.m. Reconciling in Christ Sunday, typically held on the last Sunday in January, is recognized ecumenically throughout the welcoming church movement as the annual highlight of the shared…