Note: This talk by Kathryn O'Rourke was part of a day-long symposium on the importance of the Woolworth Building as a Civil Rights historic site, hosted by the San Antonio Conservation Society and Bexar County. Click here to see other presentations.

During a March 9  town hall on Senate Bill 6 (SB6) “the bathroom bill” was disrupted by audience members protesting a lack of transgender representation on the panel. If signed into Texas law, the Republican-backed measure will force people to use public restrooms matching their biological gender, rather than the gender they identify with, which would primarily affect the LGBTQ community.

Carrizo Springs, TX -- Dimmit County Commissioners rejected a proposal from Stratton Oilfield Systems that would have turned a former “Man Camp” into a privately operated detention facility similar to those in Karnes and Dilley which are used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain asylum-seeking mothers and children. After heated opposition and even heckling from Dimmit residents and refugee advocates, Dimmit County Commissioners unanimously turned down the proposal, becoming the second Texas county in June to reject a federal family detention center.

Mayor Taylor’s Statement on Confederate Monuments SAN ANTONIO (July 9, 2015) — “Slavery and the Civil War are part of the American legacy. For more than 200 years we’ve been trying to fully realize the revolutionary premise of democracy: all men are created equal.

The Edge: Helping you catch up and get ahead on local news. Move to change Robert E. Lee High School’s name

I started a petition to rename San Antonio's Robert E. Lee High School in 2015 after seeing the suggestion by former Mayor Juliån Castro on his Facebook page. (This article in the San Antonio Current details what Castro wrote.) 

Community leaders gathered at the Esperanza Peace and Justice center to talk about the need for a broad non-discrimination ordinance and ways to persuade San Antonio council members to pass the measure. Panelists included Tommy Calvert Jr, General Manager KROV 91.7, Lauryn Farris, a transgender activist, Maria Salazar, a family law attorney and Alicia Torres, an Immigrant rights activist. San Antonio city council members are considering an ordinance that would prohibit workplace discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered people. Seventeen states and more than 100 cities in the nation have introduced fully inclusive ordinances to protect people from discrimination over sexual identity. In Texas, Fort Worth, Austin and Brownsville already have such ordinances in place. San Antonio is “At the back of this train,” said Farris. Farris also stated that the homosexual and transgender community in San Antonio is treated as “second-class citizens, and not recognized as anything else.” Undocumented immigrants in San Antonians also face discrimination.  Texas has had the highest number of deportations in the country, said Torres. “The undocumented community is not spoken for,” she said. Calvert said San Antonio needs a healthier dialogue on issues including discrimination. “Man’s greatest challenge on earth is to live side-by-side with fellow man,” said Calvert.   Watch the complete conversation below: