SAN ANTONIO – In an attempt to force San Antonio City Council action, a conservative group and the organizer of the local Pride parade filed a lawsuit to prevent the city from removing rainbow crosswalks or installing rainbow sidewalks in the heart of the Pride Cultural Heritage District.
Some of that work has already been paused, in part, because of the lawsuit.
The San Antonio chapter of the Texas Conservative Liberty Forum (TCLF) and Pride San Antonio filed a lawsuit Thursday afternoon in Bexar County district court against the city, city manager and director of Public Works. TCLF San Antonio President Joe Garza and Pride SA Secretary James Poindexter are also named as plaintiffs.
Their petition states neither group takes a position on the merits of the crosswalk removal or sidewalk installation, but it calls the work an “illegal expenditure of public funds.”
The suit asks a judge to block the city from spending the money, and states the issue could be resolved by a public vote of the city council.
“And while Plaintiffs may desire different ultimate outcomes on this issue, they agree on one thing: they (and the citizens of the City) deserve the right to make their case to their elected officials, and have the issue resolved by the political and legislative processes – not be silenced by bureaucracy seeking to handing the mayor a perceived political win,” the suit reads.
The crosswalks at North Main Avenue and East Evergreen Street are being removed after pressure from the state.
Gov. Greg Abbott issued an Oct. 8 directive for cities and counties to “remove any and all political ideologies” from Texas streets, under the threat of losing state and federal road funding.
Though the city attempted to get an exemption, it was unsuccessful, and city officials said they would replace the crosswalks with a standard black-and-white design by Jan. 15.
The new sidewalk striping, planned for a block north and a block south of the intersection, is meant as a way to continue showing support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Poindexter has repeatedly expressed frustration the city hasn’t done more to fight the removal of the crosswalks, which his group helped fund and get installed in 2018.
In a Thursday phone call with KSAT, he said Pride SA’s focus was the crosswalks and it was not trying to stop the sidewalks from being installed.
Poindexter said his group want the city council to either decide to defend the crosswalks, tell the state to use its own money to replace them or repeal the city ordinance that created them.
“I just want the city to stand up and to do it publicly instead of in the shadows,” Poindexter said.
Marco Roberts, the state chairman of TCLF, said it is a conservative group that welcomes gay members, but they don’t believe in the “identity politics aspect of it” and don’t describe themselves as an LGBTQ+ group.
He said it was the local chapter’s decision to enter the lawsuit. In a social media post Wednesday, Garza said the group opposed “the City of San Antonio’s installation of rainbow sidewalks using discretionary funds and the bypassing of City Council oversight.”
“This is not an emergency situation!” Garza continued in the post, in part. “If the surrounding businesses would like to assume such a project, it should follow the proper protocols.”
Work on the striping was scheduled to start this week, with the replacement of the crosswalk with a standard, black-and-white design to begin Monday.
Assistant City Manager John Peterek said in a Monday memo the total $170,000 price tag for the project would be paid out of existing Public Works operational dollars.
Because the project uses contractors the council has previously approved, Peterek said it didn’t need council action.
In a statement emailed by a city spokesman, City Attorney Andy Segovia said the city believes the suit is “without merit” and said a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
“City Council authorized public works funds in its approval of the FY 2026 budget and those funds are being used for both activities,” Segovia said.
The threat of the then-pending lawsuit and some council members’ concerns about the sidewalk painting had already prompted City Manager Erik Walsh to partially pump the brakes earlier Thursday.
“I have put a pause on the painting of the sidewalks until we have the opportunity to brief the Council in an Executive Session and to continue working with the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board and the community on implementation,” Walsh wrote in an email to council members about an hour-and-a-half before the lawsuit was filed.
“We will maintain our schedule for removing the painted crosswalk.”
Councilwoman Misty Spears (D9) and Councilman Marc Whyte (D10), the council’s two conservatives, released statements on Wednesday, bashing the use of public funds for the sidewalk painting.
“When taxpayer dollars are involved, our focus should be on addressing these essential infrastructure needs that directly impact public safety and our residents’ day-to-day quality of life,” Whyte said.
In a statement on social media Thursday, Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) said the pair’s stance “reinforces bigotry and hate” and called it “hypocritical” they were concerned about the sidewalk expense but apparently not the cost of replacing “an intersection that was perfectly safe as is, and was being maintained privately.”
“Councilmembers Spears and Whyte can direct their concerns to Abbott’s office, if they are so concerned,” he wrote.
Asked Thursday night about the lawsuit and pause of the sidewalk work, Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1), who represents the Pride district, told KSAT she’s open to taking a vote on the sidewalks.
“If that is what the courts tell us we need to do, I’m happy to take that vote because I know we would have the support,” she said. “But at the same time, I do believe this is in the purview of city staff to execute."
EDITOR’S NOTE — The headline of this story has been updated and more information about TCLF has also been added.
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