With Gov. Greg Abbott’s final term as governor coming to an end, support is building for returning rainbow-colored Pride crosswalks to Texas streets.
After Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa trounced Abbott in last week’s historic gubernatorial election, some hope she’ll reverse the outgoing Republican governor’s directive threatening to strip transportation funds from cities that don’t remove “ideological messages” from their streets.
In Dallas, City Councilman Chad West urged city officials to reach out to Hinojosa to roll back Abbott’s order. Dallas removed both its Pride and Black Lives Matter crosswalks under threat of losing state transportation funding.
Now, in a statement to the Current, a spokesperson for San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said she would back private efforts to restore San Antonio’s rainbow crosswalks, which the city removed in January.
“As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and an Air Force and Iraq War veteran who served under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Mayor Jones appreciates the symbolic importance for rainbow crosswalks and would be supportive of private efforts that may be interested in restoring them,” the spokesperson said.
Jones not only served in the Air Force but also became under secretary of the Air Force during the Biden administration.
After Abbott forced the removal of the rainbow crosswalks in San Antonio’s LGBTQ+ nightlife district, the city installed rainbow sidewalks designed to preserve the area’s identity while complying with the state directive.
Unlike the original crosswalks, which used the traditional six-color rainbow, the sidewalks incorporate elements of the Progress Pride flag.
