Advocates demonstrate outside the Texas State Capitol for more LGBTQ+ protections. Credit: Michael Karlis

AUSTIN — Roughly 1,300 LGBTQIA+ advocates convened Monday at the Texas Capitol to lobby for better protections amid an increasingly hostile environment created by right-wing state and federal lawmakers.

The turnout was the largest ever for the All In For Equality Coalition’s annual advocacy day, said Brad Pritchett, interim CEO of Equality Texas. Organizers credited the attendance jump to political turmoil created by the Trump administration, which has trickled down to a flurry of bills filed in the Texas Legislature to strip rights from marginalized groups.

“We’re dealing with a federal administration that has launched a barrage of executive orders and terrible policies trying to erase LGBTQIA+ people from federal recognition,” Pritchett told the Current. “Those things are designed to burn us out, to make us so outraged that we don’t know what to do. But what we’ve seen is people are really focusing that energy on trying to figure out what they can do with it.”

Those feeling a sense of urgency include Sophia Mirto, a member of Texas’ queer community and a former Austin City Council staffer. She carried a notepad full of details on more than 20 bills that she wanted to draw to lawmakers’ attention.

Those included Senate Bill 964, which would require a special mark on the drivers licenses of Texas migrants; Senate Bill 781 and House Bill 2486; both of which would make it harder for ordinary people to obtain police records; and Senate Bill 12, which would allow parents to access notes from their children’s school counselors.

SB 12 was personal for Mirto.

“I grew up in an abusive home, and giving parents access to school counselor notes is a safety issue, not just for queer kids, but even for kids like me,” she said. “For young women, that’s especially terrifying.”

Advocates Sophia Mirto, left, and Lisa Dawson, middle, meet with Democrat State Rep. Vikki Goodwin’s chief of staff during All In For Equality Coalition’s annual advocacy day. Credit: Michael Karlis

While Mirto and her friend Lisa Dawson, a former Texas public school teacher, lobbied for LGBTQ+ rights at the offices of House members Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, and James Talarico, D-Austin, San Antonio resident Rai Chavez lobbied Alamo City Democrats Roland Gutierrez and Barbra Gervin-Hawkins to vote against book bans and proposals that would deny bathroom access to transgender people.

It was Chavez’s first time participating in an advocacy day event at the Capitol.

“All of these bills are relevant, because I’m non-binary and my partner is trans,” Chavez said. “If my partner can be arrested for feloniously presenting herself, that’s a problem.”

Many of the 80 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills filed this session amount to political grandstanding GOP lawmakers want to point to next time they’re up for reelection, according to political observers. Although most of those proposals don’t have a future, Equality Texas’ Pritchett warned that they represent a slippery slope.

“We’re usually the first target, and although these bills may be targeting us, the unintended consequences of those bills impact other communities just as much as they impact us,” Pritchett said.

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This article appears in Mar 19 – Apr 1, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...