Pride Center San Antonio has decided to hold a competition in order to select the individuals who will be honored at their first annual Icon Awards Brunch on June 23.
“We are floored by the number of people in our community who deserve to be recognized and the awe-inspiring work that demands recognition,” the Pride Center board said in an email announcement. “With so many nominations submitted, rather than The Center deciding our honorees, the final decision will be left in the hands of our beloved community.”
Last December, the Pride Center called on the community to nominate recipients for the awards. They were seeking individuals who “must be or have been contributing members to the LGBTQ+ community and who have made significant and demonstrable contributions to the LGBTQ+ community.”
The final slate of nominees are broken up into six categories: Community Icon, Leadership Icon, Legacy Icon, Media Icon, Political Icon, and Rising Icon. There are a total of 33 finalists on the official online ballot.
Community members have until June 1 to cast their votes at this link.
In order to facilitate the voting and due to “other unforeseen circumstances” the Icon Awards Brunch, which was slated for the first weekend in June, has been rescheduled for June 23 at the Pearl Stable.
Below is the list of nominees for the 2019 Icon Awards.
Community Icon
Ginger Chun – Trans Allies SA & board member at Transgender Education Network of Texas
Richard Escobedo – Community organizer
Pastor Joseph Garrett – Living Church at Woodlawn Pointe
Kimberly Watts Hoggatt – Board member at PFLAG San Antonio
Dr. Rev. William Knight – Senior pastor Metropolitan Community Church
Emily Leeper – Founder of Fiesta Youth
Leadership Icon
Michele Durham – Longtime HIV advocate and executive director at Beat AIDS Coalition Trust
Andrea Figueroa – Longtime community organizer and executive director at Martinez Street Women’s Center
Drew Galloway – Voting rights advocate and executive director at MOVE Texas
Chad Reumann – Longtime community advocate and board president of PFLAG San Antonio
Crystafer Stone – Longtime community advocate and board member with Fiesta Youth
Renee Watson – Longtime economic justice advocate
Legacy Icon
Phillip Barcena & James Poindexter – Longtime organizers of Pride San Antonio
Randy Cunniff – Longtime community business leader & advocate
Gene Elder (posthumously) – Longtime community activist & local historian
Kenneth Garrett (posthumously) – Longtime community business leader & advocate
Brad Veloz – Longtime community organizer & activist
Marsha Warren – Longtime community organizer & activist
Media Icon
Emily Gerson – Creator/writer of Profiles in Pride
Joey Palacios – Reporter with Texas Public Radio
Diana Winters – Creative mind behind KSAT’s South Texas Pride Series and current executive producer with KSAT News
Alyson Diane Alonzo – Out queer solo singer and musician
Political Icon
State Rep. Diego Bernal – Current State Representative; former District 1 councilman and champion of the 2013 nondiscrimination ordinance
US Congressman Lloyd Doggett – Current US Congressman and champion of LGBTQ inclusion
Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez – First out Latina lesbian judge in Bexar County
Councilman Roberto C. Trevino – Current District 1 councilman and champion of LGBTQ inclusion
Judge Genie Wright – former Bexar County Judge and longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community
Rising Icon
Marko Gallegos – San Antonio film student currently producing a short film based on his transition experience
Jackson Leeper – Advocate for youth and creator of WLW Social Group
Jacundo Ramos – HIV and Transgender Advocate
Natalie Rodriguez – Community organizer with Esperanza Peace & Justice Center and who leads the Queer Corazones group
Franco Ulloa – Community organizer; mentor with SA Trans Brothers and co-facilitator of San Antonio Men in Transition Peer Support Group
2019 Icon Awards Brunch, June 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Pearl Stable, 307 Pearl Pkwy. Individual tickets are $85. VIP tables for 10 are $800. Brunch with open bar. Tickets are available at this link.
