Though San Antonio’s rainbow crosswalks will be removed by Jan. 15 under orders of Gov. Greg Abbott, the city is going to install rainbow sidewalks in its Pride District instead.
Workers could begin painting the sidewalks as early as this week, the Express-News reports.
The sidewalks will be installed at the intersection of Evergreen Street and Main Avenue, the same place where the colorful crosswalks are located. The junction is in the heart of the Main Strip, an area just south of San Antonio College that includes bars, restaurants and stores catering to the LGBTQ+ community.
The rainbow sidewalk will wrap around the corners of the intersection with overlaid triangles in pale pink, blue and white stripes, representing the Transgender Pride flag.
Abbott — a Republican who’s made anti-LGBTQ+ policies a central part of his political brand — ordered the city to remove the crosswalks to comply with a state directive to scrub “political ideologies” from streets or risk losing transportation funding.
District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur shared a rendering of the sidewalks on her Instagram, stating, “Though we’re sad to see the removal of the Rainbow Crosswalk, we’re excited to show y’all what’s coming next for Main Street🌈✨[.]”
But not everyone on council is excited.
In a joint Wednesday press release, conservatives Marc Whyte (D 10) and Misty Spears (D 9) expressed their disapproval of the city’s allocation of $170,000 from the Public Works budget for rainbow sidewalks.
The Pride crosswalks scheduled for removal were paid for via a community fundraising initiative by Pride San Antonio — not tax dollars. But, this time, the initiative is funded by the city budget. Whyte said the money would be better spent fixing potholes and improving drainage.
“As Americans, we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Whyte said in a statement. “If private individuals or businesses wish to use their money to make a statement, they have the right to do so. But to use public dollars to paint colored sidewalks instead of allocating that money to core infrastructure needs is not in the best interest of our citizens.”
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