As the City of San Antonio works to document the cultural picture of North Main Avenue, known as the “gay strip,” community members want the city to honor all of its history, including the parts that have been censored.
The city first announced it would seek cultural heritage designation for the gay strip last year. The Office of Historic Preservation is now handling the designation process by documenting oral history and feedback from the public through three meetings.
About a dozen people showed up Thursday evening to the community meeting hosted by the city. They stressed that the cultural heritage that exists on this stretch of Main was built on historical context that existed decades before.
Staffers from the Office of Historic Preservation took notes and pointed community members to existing resources where they can make sure the history is documented, like the city’s Legacy Business Program, There’s A Story Here program, and History Here Markers.
“Right now at the times we’re having here in the City of San Antonio, it’s very unique that we have so much support from so many people in City Council, the Police Department, other areas within the city,” said Phillip Barcena, President of Pride SA, which has hosted the annual pride parade for 22 years on North Main Avenue.
The ask for the city to recognize the gay strip as a cultural heritage district came from District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur and District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who in 2021 was the first openly gay man elected to city council. McKee-Rodriguez is also the first openly gay Black man elected to any public office in Texas.
A cultural heritage district is a local designation that ensures the city will highlight an area and brings awareness to its cultural significance. It discourages demolition, identifies potential historic resources, and promotes the neighborhood’s pride and economic prosperity.
“Maybe the police are supportive now, maybe the city is supportive now, but it wasn’t always that way,” said Graciela Sanchez, executive director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, which sued the city in 2000 for cutting its public arts funding for its visual arts programming.
In the 90s, Esperanza hosted a visual arts show about AIDS and a Gay and Lesbian art show during a time when it was difficult for people to be open about their identity because they were generally not accepted unless they conformed to norms.
Sanchez added that in 2020, artists Suzy Gonzalez and Michael Menchanca’s XicanX: New Visions art exhibit at the Centro de Artes Gallery was censored for a video by Xandra Ibarra, a feminist activist artist from Oakland, California.
Emry Ramstack, vice president for the San Antonio Gender Association, attended the meeting to ask how the city plans to culturally honor the organizations that don’t have a permanent physical space along the corridor or in San Antonio.
The association was established 23 years ago and provides a safe space and support for transgender and gender diverse people. It formally became a nonprofit last year, which made it so they weren’t only a club but a formal organization.
For now, meetings happen at a local community center, but the organization has bounced around for years because it keeps growing.
“In today’s climate, there’s the constant fear of censorship from the trans community. There is that component of sexuality, but a lot of it is just gender,” Ramstack said. “I would hope that nothing gets super censored, but I know with the LGBT community, there’s like kink that could be censored.”
Ramstack added leather and kink spots in San Antonio are also a part of the history, “It’s always like the freaks and the weirdoes who everything else is built on the backs of… They’re the ones that really pushed forward the things that allowed us to be accepted, that allowed me to exist as a nonbinary person.”
They said retail shops like Ouch Apparel and Zebra’s on the strip embody the history they hope is also recognized.
People in the meeting pointed out specific places on a map outside of the strip that they want to see the city also include as part of the cultural designation, including the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center and night clubs that no longer operate, like The Boss, Noo Zoo, El Jardin and The Crew.
“There’s a lot of facilities, bars, other stuff that are not along Main Avenue. SA Country on Hildebrand, the 2015 Place on San Pedro, and Bonham Exchange,” said Michael Anderson, vice president of Pride SA.
James Poindexter, secretary of Pride SA, said bars are important to include in the cultural history of the corridor.
“Meetings were held in bars often because it was the only place that people would allow the gathering of LGBT people,” he said. “They were seen as a mob or illegal to have a gathering of LGBT people.”
Once the Office of Historic Preservation gathers information from the community feedback sessions, it will send all the information to the Historic Design and Review Commission and the Planning and Community Development Committee before it’s designated by the City Council.
The next public meetings will be at 6 p.m. on Aug. 22 and Sept. 24 at Eco Centro.
This story has been updated to include correct pronouns for a source.