San Antonio’s Historic and Design Review Commission on Wednesday afternoon voted to approve designating the area around the Main Strip — the city’s epicenter of LGBTQ+ nightlife — as the Pride Cultural Heritage District.
The stretch of North Main Avenue spanning the 1300 through 1900 blocks is home to landmark nightclubs including Heat, Pegasus and Sparky’s Pub, and it hosts the annual Pride Bigger Than Texas Festival and Parade. A city-installed rainbow crosswalk designates the southernmost end of the corridor in Tobin Hill.
Council members Sukh Kaur (District 1) and Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (District 2) began pushing for the designation more than a year and a half ago. Prior to asking the HDRC to vote on the designation, city staff collected oral histories, public input and documents that back up the area’s cultural significance for LGBTQ+ San Antonians.
The recognition comes at the beginning of Pride Month, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, an event considered a major catalyst in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. It also comes as the queer community faces a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and attacks from right-wing lawmakers in Washington and Austin.
“We need to have spaces that are safe,” Antonio Gonzalez-Martinez of the San Antonio LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce told KSAT News of the designation. “When we have districts that are identified and that represent people, and where people can go and feel safe, I think it’s extremely important.”
San Antonio established its cultural heritage district designation in 2005 to recognize areas of the city notable for their unique heritage and history along with their contribution to the community’s larger identity.
Prior to the the designation of the Pride Cultural Heritage District, the most recent area to gain recognition under the program was the Sin Road Cultural Heritage District, a stretch of Northwest San Antonio that’s home to many who immigrated from the Middle East and South Asia.
Before Wednesday’s vote, Pride San Antonio secretary James Poindexter told the Express-News the designation would show younger members of the community that a safe space exists in San Antonio while recognizing the struggle of older members for rights and recognition.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” said Poindexter, whose group organizes Pride Bigger Than Texas. “It’s just a step along the way, but a big step for the LGBT community. It’s a big step for the elders of the LGBT community. It’s a step that shows the progress of where we’ve come and those who have come before us.
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This article appears in May 29 – Jun 11, 2025.