Updated: Dec. 21, 2016, 9:00 p.m. San Antonio’s LGBT community has failed to meet the goal of raising $30,000 by the end of the year to help pay for rainbow crosswalks on the Main Avenue Strip. Only $2,700 of the goal was reached via a Kickstarter campaign which was initiated in late October. Organizers say…
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Mayor’s Advisor and LGBT Liaison Juany Torres is Leaving
With less than six months on the job, Juany Torres, who has worked for Mayor Ron Nirenberg as senior policy advisor, director of community engagement and as LGBT liaison, is leaving City Hall. Out In SA obtained a copy of an email Torres sent to colleagues and community members. In it she gives no reason…
Marriage Equality Pioneer Mark Phariss to Run for Texas Senate
Plano attorney Mark Phariss, who in 2013 was a plaintiff in the successful Texas marriage equality lawsuit, announced his candidacy for Texas Senate District 8, which covers portions of Collin and Dallas counties. The District 8 seat has been held by Republican Van Taylor who is vacating the office to run for Congress. Phariss will…
All-Male Ballets Trockadero Set for Tobin Center Performance
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, which bills itself as “the world’s foremost all-male comic ballet,” is heading to San Antonio for a performance on January 25 at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. The “Trocks,” as the troupe is known to its fans, was founded in 1974 by Peter Anastos, Natch Taylor and…
Senators Ask Trump to Reconsider Nominating Anti-Trans Texan to Federal Court
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. The confirmation of a Texas federal judge nominee who’s said transgender kids are part of “Satan’s plan” has been put on hold by the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee. According to committee chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican, the committee told the Trump administration that “they ought to reconsider”…
Houston Trans Woman is 28th Murdered in U.S. This Year
A transgender woman, who was gunned down at the corner of Brandon and Red Bud Streets in Houston’s Sunnyvale neighborhood on December 13, has become the 28th trans person murdered in the U.S. in 2017. Twenty-six-year-old Debarione “Brandi” Seals was in her car around 6 a.m. Neighbors told Fox 26 they heard a series of…
José Rubén De León Brings His ‘Bolero’ to Carver Center
Actor-playwright-musician José Rubén De León will perform El Corazón del Bolero, his tribute to bolero composers, at the Carver Community Cultural Center on December 16 as part of the Little Carver Intimate Series. The performance is billed as a a tribute to male and female bolero composers from Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico. De León…
Annise Parker Named CEO of Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund
Former Houston mayor Annise Paker announced she has accepted the post of CEO for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Institute. According to its website, the Victory Fund works “to achieve equality for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ officials at all levels of government.” The announcement was made on December…
Former Texas Judge Alleged to Have Molested Man for 35 Years
A former Texas state judge will have to defend himself in a sexual assault lawsuit that alleges he molested a man over a span of 35 years. Paul Pressler, a retired justice of the Texas 14th Circuit Court of Appeals and a key figure in the “conservative resurgence” of the Southern Baptist Convention, has been…
Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez Officially Enters Governor’s Race
Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez has made it official: She is resigning her office to run for Governor of Texas in the Democratic primary. Valdez’s announcement came just a week after news outlets in North Texas had prematurely reported her resignation ahead of a likely campaign. Her announcement on December 6 is the real thing.…