 Quality Forum. This has been an event that we've been wanting to do for a while and a lot is on the line of coming elections. So it's a critical event for us to learn more about. I'm going to end this right here. And I want to introduce... It's going to be our moderator tonight. So I want to help you. I'm in the second hour. Hello everyone. My name is Lauren Harris. I'm a transgender education director in Texas. And I want to recognize, before we get started, I want to recognize just a few people. Some of you may have been to Austin, either the 6th or the 20th. And there's a dynamite coalition that people probably never thought could work together. But we've worked together to produce just two amazingly... ...incredible lobby days. And that is the Texas Freedom Network. We're playing up our name. We're in our past. And you've been right. It's Kim Penny. Right here for our studio. And finally, Texas, the 8th playoff. And Robert Chassina. And I don't think there's anyone here from ACLU. And especially in your education, no one from Texas. If you look at... ...and Alice, they have our t-shirts. They have the five emblems on the back. Introduce those people to begin because we have a long way to go. But there's an amazing, amazing group of people here tonight. And I want to recognize just a few. Drew Galloway from Moon San Antonio. From Pride San Antonio. From 35th Indivisible. And a couple of trans people. Because we are real. We do participate. And we do... ...is the new president of the San Antonio General Association. Is it in the back? I'm easily a trans man of San Antonio. And I think of it in most of the organizations that are not asking questions. We would be introducing other people to ask questions from other organizations as well. So, without further ado... Keith Cody. Let me tell you the format first. Our format is... ...for the first hour, we will be asking questions of districts two through ten. The candidates that are here. We thought we would have seven. We have five. And we will begin with two minutes for them to introduce themselves. Then, different organizations will be asking questions. And they will have one minute each to respond. We will try to keep it very equal in time. And I'm a national about cutting people off if we need to. One person that I forgot. I don't think either of the co-chairs are here. But the former co-chair is sitting right here. I'd like to introduce you to Carol Neymar. Who's the former co-chair of Stonewall Democrats in San Antonio. That seemed to be the most usual sitting up here. Our non-partisan, of course. But I want to introduce who we have up here. T. Tony from District 2 has signed up to be here. He is not. Jessica Guerrero from District 3. Melissa Cabello-Harrida. District 6 also. Ana Sandoval from District 7 has signed up. But she is not here. So, we're going to give you each two minutes to introduce yourselves. This is, I don't know, because we look like everyone else. But we are the LGBTQ plus community. And we're here to ask you about that. Because although you may not have a cool strip like this in your district, I guarantee you that all of you are LGBTQ plus people in your districts. So, as you introduce yourselves, it would be wonderful. It's not a requirement. It would be wonderful if you addressed the LGBTQ community directly. My name is Jessica Guerrero. I'm running for District 3. That's the southeast side of San Antonio. I'm really proud to be here with you today. Of course, all of this area is super familiar to me. My strip for a long, long, long time. And I'm very proud of that. And although we may not have quite as cool a strip like this in District 3, I think that can happen very soon. We see a lot of changes coming up in District 3 that I'm really excited about. But that a lot of my neighbors, not constituents yet, a lot of my neighbors are really concerned about falling through the cracks of those decisions that are bringing those developments about. And I want to be sure that our voices are heard. That all of our voices are heard at City Hall. When these decisions are being made on how development is organized in District 3, we want to be sure that it's a district for everyone. We want to make sure that current, long-time and long-term residents of District 3 are heard. And that includes absolutely the LGBTQ community. Whether they're out or not, right? People need to feel safe. People need to feel wanted. People need to feel at home in their communities. And that's what I'm hoping I can help facilitate in District 3. So, gracias for having me. Thank you so much for inviting me here tonight. I'm excited to be here. I'm proud to say that I grew up in District 6. I went to Taft High School out there. There's a lot of growth out there. But when people ask me why I decided to run for District 6, I tell them a story about me and my grandfather. We were walking in his neighborhood on the street. And I noticed that there weren't any sidewalks. So I looked up at him and asked, why are we walking on the street? My grandfather was a hard-working man. He was hard-working, treated people with respect. He looked down at me and said, what's going to look important to us? They don't care about us. That conversation with him hurt me because he was strong. He was a pillar in my life. And he didn't feel like he had a voice. It led me to practice law where I fight for the rights of disabled veterans and seniors. And it led me to run for District 6. In my practice, I represent the LGBT community. I know their issues directly. They are employment discrimination, lack of access to health care. We have homelessness, unfortunately, especially with the younger generation, and violence against them. So when you come to me in my practice and say, I'm going to be your boy because I want to help you. Because I want to send a message to City Hall to see less and more stuff than we matter. Thank you. Hello, everybody. My name is Rick Dervino. For those who don't know me, I'm a teacher. I'm a progressive. I've been teaching at, for five years now, an SAISD on the East Side. And as an educator, I see every day the struggles of working people. Many people are working longer hours for lower wages. Working families are having a hard time paying their bills. Thinking about how they can send their kids to college. I've been speaking to so many senior citizens who should be retired, but they're forced to go back into the workforce because on Social Security's own, they're not able to make it. They have very expensive prescription drug medicines. They make tough decisions every day. And those are the people I'm primarily concerned with representing. The working families of District 6. And you get some of my campaign in three points. A living wage for all people. Because I don't think it's controversial to say that if you work 40 hours a week, you shouldn't live in poverty. So a living wage in both public and private sectors. Two, I support neighborhood empowerment. We have to empower our churches, our schools, our community centers, because that's where true power lies. Not one person, not a bureaucrat, not a politician. We need to empower civic engagement. And three, I want to bring back ethics and integrity into City Hall. Because as you guys know, I'm 32 years old and I'm sick and tired of a political system that's run by big money. And we need to move to publicly funded elections and give big money out of our local politics. And I've been very proud of my advocacy for the LGBTQ community. It was formerly the Secretary of the Bear County Democratic Party. And while I was a Democrat, we supported the NDO at City Hall. I was proud to stand by my LGBTQ brothers and sisters fighting with them. And as a teacher, I'm so looking forward to the future because the millennial generation, the young generation that's coming up they're so open and inclusive. I have trans students, gay students. And to see how they interact with their peers. They're embraced, they're loved. They're not ostracized anymore. In the LGBTQ community, their advocacy created this possibility. From Stonewall to the advocacy of the AIDS issue in the 80s, they fought tooth and nail to be treated with respect. And that has paid dividends because I see it every day in my classrooms in the hallways. And we have to applaud the work of the LGBTQ community for advocating for themselves and in making America realize that they're human beings and they deserve to be respected just like everybody else. Thank you. First, I want to congratulate you all by being here and taking action and being engaged because that's what it's about. It's about having your voice heard. You know, a lot of people ask, Tony, why are you running? But before I get there, I have a confession to make. I know a lot of you might not believe this. It's going to be very hard to understand, but the truth is I haven't always been the super cool person you see in front of you today. As you can tell, I'm not a very big guy. So, of course, in high school, you know, a lot of classes, I was the easy target next to I'm the bully. And yes, I was even that kid that was throwing a new locker. You know, yeah, it's embarrassing. But one day I stood up for myself and in that moment I discovered a couple things. First, I was much stronger than anybody gave me credit for. And second, that I had a voice. And I believe it is this strength that allows me to use my voice to share my message with each of you today, including the embarrassing parts about being thrown in the locker. As time went on, those same boys, they'd be like, oh man, Tony, he's a small little guy, but he's strappy. He's not worth it. All they did was move on to the next kid. And that's when I learned my next and most valuable lesson. That it wasn't enough just for me to stand up and speak for myself, but I had to speak up for others who haven't discovered that strength in themselves. That's one of the main reasons why I'm running. It's to make sure I'm that voice for everybody that needs to be heard. Stand up for injustice. And make sure that we're all engaged and civically involved. A little bit about myself. It's also why I enjoy working for a company that serves our military veterans and their families. Because that mission of service to others that have served our country speaks very highly to my own mission, which I feel is helping improve the lives of those in my community. That's why I've been involved in a lot of volunteer work from doing shifts down at the San Antonio Food Bay. And before I was running, I wanted to make a difference in my city government. So in my spare time, I volunteered to serve this special project, just 28 or four district day, where I work alongside Reiner and Bergen in our district manager, Ray Garza. It's all about being involved, engaged. One, make sure you have a voice. I have a strong financial background so I can bring fiscal accountability to City Hall. And third, I want to make sure that we have safe neighborhoods that our police and fire are the best trained, best equipped so they're there where we need them. I know you've all taken action today by being here. I'm going to encourage you to take one more action. Please go to my website, votetonyb.com. On the how to get into the ball page, I have what I call the Be the Change Challenge. I'm going to ask you just to do one of three things. One, if you like my message, donate $25. Two, help me share my message by bouncing on my campaign or sharing my website or Facebook. Go out and volunteer for a non-profit here in San Antonio, whether it's San Antonio Food Bank or Move San Antonio. Thank you for your time. Hello everyone, my name is John Alvarez. I'm running for City Council for District 10 up on the northeast side. I want to introduce myself for just a minute. I've been active in District 10 for a few years now. I look young, I get that a lot. I'm glad to be in a young room. This is nice, especially coming from District 10. It's a bit of a more older conservative district, so I'm very happy to be in this room. But I've been active working with current Councilman Mike Gallagher for the last several years. I was appointed by the previous Councilman to be his representative on the SA-2020 Commission for Strengthening Family Well-being. I was elected to represent Districts 8, 9 and 10 on the Community Action Advisory Board. In both of those positions, we were addressing the issues of homelessness, poverty, under-appointment and child abuse. And I say that because I know that those issues are near and dear to the LGBT community. And I also say that because coming from District 10, that is an area where those issues were not as near and dear. So I've been fighting for those issues in my district. And I want to bring it to the San Antonio Leadership for District 10 as well. Professionally, I'm a licensed professional counselor. I work for a nonprofit agency called Communities in Schools. Our objective is to keep kids successful in schools. What I do is I'm on a special project, so I provide one-on-one therapy for some of their most at-risk youth. And as you can imagine, a lot of those children have seen abuse, have seen violence, have seen neglect, have seen trauma. And a lot of those children are facing issues with their sexual identity, with rejection from their families. Sometimes they are homeless because of those reasons. So I have seen firsthand what that can do to a student and what that can do to that student's future. So these issues are very near and dear to me. And that is part of the reason why I wanted to get in the fight, especially in District 10, where the LGBT community has not been friendly representation for the past several years. For the past several years, we've sent leadership to City Hall that has been more conservative, that has been more judgmental. And we need to change that trend. And that's why I'm getting in the race because I want support from socially progressive people who want to increase equality across San Antonio. Thank you. Thank you. I encourage you to remember language matters when you're sitting in a room full of LGBTQ people. And so a lot of the language you use is going to be scrutinized. So now I'm going to begin with a question. And the first question is about you. I don't know if you are aware, but approximately 40% of the nation's homeless youth are LGBTQ plus. And we make up a much smaller percentage of the general population. So Marcos and Tuna is here somewhere. There he is. From PSCU. Please ask me to read the question for you. And we're going to start at this end. This is how it is. We'll start with you to answer the question. Each of you will have one minute. And we will need to get two off so we can get more questions in. What specifically would you do to improve the lives of LGBT youth in San Antonio? What specifically? Well, we're talking, immediately we're talking about homelessness. 40% of homelessness. But the problem does not stop there. LGBT youth are more than twice as likely to be victims of hate crimes. More than three times as likely to be homeless or incarcerated. More than four times as likely to attempt or commit suicide in the general population. And so we're talking about discrepancies, huge discrepancies across all measurements of quality of life. So that's one question, but it's a massive question. How do we address the quality of life across all different aspects? Well, for homelessness, personally, I believe there should not be homelessness in the city of San Antonio. There are solutions for homelessness. They would be money-saving initiatives. We can save money and treat people better. We can end homelessness for veterans, for children, for the general population and for the LGBTQ community. So I believe that we should address homelessness first. I also think that we need to make mental health, mental health is my field. I think we need to make those resources more equitable and more accessible for everyone. And so those are the two things that I'm talking about. Well, first I want to say thank you for the question. That's a very, very challenging question because it is a large problem. You know, I think the first thing to do is to lead by example. It's to be out in the community at events like this and be engaged with everybody. It's to rally people around getting involved with different organizations, different nonprofits here that specialize in areas around homelessness, around LGBT communities and getting out, getting involved. So, you know, I think with that it's just getting out there and taking action and saying, hey, we care. We're here, we listen, we're putting a human face on it. I think the biggest thing out there is helping people identify on each other at the human level. And I know that that starts with creating friendships and bringing people together and communicating. So that's how I would do it, just doing my best to be a leader and show, hey, here's the way we should do it. So I'd love to talk to you more if you have to follow today. Hearing that number is shocking and the reason why that's the reality is because a lot of LGBTQ young people are pushed out of their families. They find themselves in that situation because they don't find a friend at home. And the reality is our older generation are conservative and a lot of the families don't understand the strengths. I see it firsthand with one of my best friends. His friend is gendered. He was also sad from his family his grandmother's grandfather. They broke her heart. And what we need to do as a city, if we really want to get serious about dealing with that, we need a city-funding LGBTQ center. Because you just can't go to anywhere. You have to understand that the issues of the LGBTQ community are unique. They need to know that if they're going to this center that they're going to be listened to. Someone who empathizes with them. Because what happens is that people are afraid that they're going to be judged. They don't enter that room. They need a safe space. And the city is leading on that. It's a message to all of America that San Antonio is a friend to the LGBTQ community. We could be proactive and the city needs both funding and LGBTQ center. And as your District 66 representative I will make that one of my priorities. Thank you. San Antonio needs an LGBTQ resource center. I'd love to have it in District 6 but I would advocate for it to be anywhere in our city. We need a place to go. As a community the LGBT community needs a place to go. Not just for the homeless kids but for the rest of the community. Go on and learn about the issues the LGBTQ issues. So you're not pushing your kids out the door. When they come in and tell you what they are, how they were born support them. Go to the LGBTQ center and learn about it. And don't push them out. Don't ostracize them from their family. So it's not just for the children themselves but for the community. But for everyone else to learn about it and to become engaged and educated. Thank you. I think that it's really important that no matter what happens at the state or the national level that San Antonio from our community to City Hall and back are absolutely committed to protecting the NDO locally. We need to be sure that we continue that momentum, that we continue to expand the NDO as we continue to work out the budget and make sure that this new center is connected. That we also do as we have with all of our other advocacy and activism. That we make sure that LGBTQ issues are community issues. That we're learning together how all of these things are intersected. That children services include LGBTQ transgender children services. That the CRTs crisis response teams that have been constantly, you know, their budgeting has been threatened. That the community, you know, people that are trained to help respond to moments of violence. That they have that training also to deal with a queer community situation. That is violence that needs a certain type of attention. We need to be sure that all of this is throughout all of our communities. So I want all of you also to remember this is not a presidential campaign. This is a progressive group with long memories. So be careful what you say, because you will hear it again. From the San Antonio Progressive Alliance I would like to introduce Alice Genestetto Garcia. She left to ask a question from that group. Thanks so much for having this microphone back. Hello, can y'all hear me? My name is Alice Genestetto Garcia and I have a question. What steps do you plan to take as individuals and as our district representatives to encourage people who are not yet LGBTQ allies to become allies? Thank you. What's really exciting about this campaign for me is that I am challenging a very strong, very well funded incumbent. So it is a huge challenge. It also means that it is also a reality that I come from a community serving background. I've been in community for a long time. So the work that I'm doing and what I'm talking about right now are things that I've been talking about are things that I'll continue talking about regardless of what happens in this election. And I'm especially disappointed with our current representation in District 3 and her lack of support for the, you know, we saw her really, you know, stall in a super long time to declare her position and that's unacceptable to me. These issues are human, it's a human rights issue. So as we're talking to people in community and we talked about economic development and the topic challenges around really aggressive development, we need to be sure that we're not just bringing in this LGBTQ issue in a way that is communicated based on economics. It's not about economics. It's a human right. It's a human dignity issue. Absolutely. As an attorney, it is a civil rights issue. It's another protected class. However, it is also an economic issue. And I think one way to make allies, the people that are not currently allies, the people that are against us is to make sure that they understand that these economic disparities are going to impact those too. The businesses that aren't coming here because of the proposed bathroom bill, you know, their businesses that would probably not discriminate against the LGBT community. We need to attract them here. We need to make sure that they're going to come and offer employment because the LGBT community needs jobs. And unfortunately, employment discrimination is a real factor here in San Antonio. So again, I'll refer back to my last answer too, but it's education. As an attorney also sitting on City Council, I can advocate. I'll fight for you. I know that you're one of 11 votes on City Council and there are people sitting there now that would not and have not advocated for you. And that's something that I can offer as well. Thank you. The political climate in the United States of America right now is so polarized. And really what's happening at the state level is disgusting to see a community demonize, criminalize, just for political votes. You know, it really breaks my heart to see that. And what I will do as county persons, I'll make sure that my office has an open door policy to the LGBTQ community and not only that I have a staff that is diverse, a staff that if an LGBTQ constituent comes to the door that they know they'll have someone there with a shared experience, I think they'll listen to. And not only that, I want to be a public supporter of the LGBTQ community. I want to use it in my language. I'm not going to be afraid to stand with my LGBTQ brothers and sisters at any other rallies. When they're defending themselves against bigotry, I will be there. I will march with you. I will lobby and advocate. We ask too little or political officials. I'm tired of hearing politicians say that's not my purview. That's ridiculous. Your elected officials are put there to advocate for you. And if there's anything that's going to have adverse effects on my constituents on the LGBTQ community in District 6 and San Antonio, I'm going to have something to say about that. And what you also have to do is facilitate community. Because if there's only less than 50% of the polluting population happening and if people are being demonized and they're still getting re-elected, well, we have to make sure they know that we're going to create a city of 60%, 70%, 80% voter turnout and they will listen to you. And there will be political consequences for being a bigot, for being an enemy of the LGBTQ community. And what I want to do is facilitate that type of dynamic community engagement we need to force people who are not advocates to be allies. Thank you. Another great question. This is a challenging one. Because we know that there's probably going to always be some contingent that's always going to they're never going to come over to see the light. So with that said, one thing that I want to do is make sure to stand up for what's right and what's fair. I think the Constitution is a great document but to me what really captures the heart of what it means to be an American is the Declaration of Independence. And in there, it says that all men are created equal. It also continues to say that we are endowed with certain unalienable rights among these of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So if we have two people regardless of their creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation because they're created equal who want to express their pursuit of happiness by declaring their love for each other, they should have the liberty to do so. And so what I plan to do is keep standing up with you and fighting for what's right and what's fair for all of us. So having the dialogue having those conversations and meeting with love. I know it's tough I know it's one of those things I know that my experience may not compare to some of your experiences here but I know it's like to be picked on for being different. And what we need to do is have that voice to stand up that, hey, what you're doing is wrong but also say you know what, we're willing to be bigger people and overcome that and welcome you into who we are and hopefully you'll learn about us and accept us. Unfortunately the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s did not end bigotry it did not end racism that took years and that struggle continues today. We still have to find allies for marginalized groups. The battle for social justice will be fought on two fronts one will be legislators the elected leaders that we sent to city hall to the state legislature, to Washington the other will be social those active community organizers who stand up and resist and speak loudly and forcefully and say this behavior is unacceptable and both of those fronts must work together. Linden Johnson would have been nothing without Martin Luther King and his courage on the front lines of that part of the battle. Any elected leader, myself included must stand shoulder to shoulder with the social activists to show that our community to show our community that we as elected representatives will stand with you in both fronts of that battle to improve our quality and to gain allies in our battle for social justice. Thank you. This is the first response that will come from Rick Flaminio and we'll go that way and head around. Everything you're going to mean to me. So to ask this question is a very young young woman from Move SA Arlene Serena. Madison and Busan and Flaminio are going to ask the marriage question so I'm going to answer this one. For those in the 85th legislative Senate Bill 902 would arrive to aid local non-discrimination ordinances across Texas including San Antonio of the 2013 ordinance for public facilities and contractors. If elected, what specific actions will you take to ensure LGBT persons feel welcome and are protected in our city? I find it funny that so many conservatives have their own responsibilities on how to interact with the states. I think the state is overreaching on what is imposing on the city. We've seen this all across the state and for them to strip the city of power of the democratic decision of its citizens is outrageous. The NDO was created by the advocacy to get it there. It took so much effort. We're just not going to take that away because we have some hard wingers dictating policy of theirs. That's unacceptable and again we need a city to be bold and advocate for itself. There's been a precedent set at the state level of taking away local control. It happened in Denton where they banned fracking, they took away that right. They've taken away the right of cities to set their own wages. That's ridiculous. Cities bigger than us and smaller than us have met the needs of their citizens' economic lives and that is only going to further entrench our state in that type of control and if our state is still being run by really corporates, people who are bought and sold by the richest and the most corrupt institutions in the world we've got to do something about that. Our cities have to fight back and not only that, look at what's on the line. If our cities take away that right well guess what? People will be discriminated against. Business will turn people away and this is 2017 and this is unacceptable. America has become more progressive. My generation is the most open loving generation in the history of the United States and America and I am not going to let my state dictate what my city does. We need to control ourselves, our destiny, not the state of Texas. Thank you so much. What would we do if it was eradicated and it was passed? So if there was no end to your eradication, right? Well, I completely agree with Ray Guy. We would do everything to stop that from happening but if it did happen, what we could do number one is the perfect community in San Antonio is not, I've met with them a lot you know just seeing them running, they're not adverse to making sure that the LGBT community is not discriminated against. So I think we have to go in just one by one, we have to talk to them, we have to educate, we have to make sure that our resource center is available to them and make sure that they're not discriminating. Private industry is malleable, you know, especially by government because yeah, city councils can only do so much but you have a platform and there's a lot of pressure that you can put on companies to do the right thing. So I think that number one is educating and making sure that they are that they're not discriminating. If there's not a law telling or an ordinance telling them to do so but of course, I mean we try to stop the word start because we wouldn't, I mean we passed this and it was voted on by our council members and elected representatives and that's where we try to stop that from happening at all. As city council representative I would work with other members of city council to instruct our city attorneys to find those loopholes that we very well know will exist as they're doing any law in any policy so that we can as a city from city hall, right, from within city hall push towards a more push towards more justice throughout our community. I want to be part of reclaiming city hall along with many other progressive candidates that are running right now and for us to work together to again bring it from the inside out, bring that justice up into the community. We know that everyone throughout the community is going to continue organizing going to continue challenging the policies and I'll be right there with you whether I'm at the dais on Thursday morning and you know with you as right before I walk in there to protest to voice our opinion. So I think that if we can have more people from within city hall instructing city staff, city attorneys to look at how to overcome something like that, that's what we need. We need a majority in there. I agree with what the previous candidates have said. I can't imagine something like this, a measure going forward without it leading to an eventual supreme court case. As an elected representative I would back a supreme court surge against a movement like that all the way but at the state level what they'd be attempting to do and this comes back to my analogy of a two front battle for social justice they would be attempting to destroy the legislative part of that battle, to take out the representative part of that battle to take away our power as elected representatives. Well that means that it's just as important for us to promise you up here that we will stand by you either in city hall if that power is taken away from us we will join you on the streets marching with a sign making sure that those cases end up at the Supreme Court in the United States. Well I think first this goes to my view of government. I do not believe government should just be a group of people who arbitrarily make decisions on how the rest of us should live. I think government should be a platform that allows us to come together as citizens to help solve problems and help each other. So with that said even if that lost past and the NDO is no longer law I would make sure that the policy for city hall would not change that we would stay here that we would make that policy the same and then on top of that then we would fight through whatever course we need to through the court system or for logging or for the new legislation to come out to refuel that because here in San Antonio we don't want to be New York or Houston or a douse we want to be the very best version of San Antonio we can be and we should have the power to decide what that is for ourselves at the city hall. So we're going to do this but I'm going to if you identify if you're comfortable just stay right where you are but if you're comfortable and you identify as gender queer gender not conforming you identify as gender not conforming because of expression where you identify as trans whatever would you stand up if you're comfortable if you're comfortable we're going to be the greatest of what Austin does I hope you know and we're going to need your support and your help and that goes for every candidate in the world thank you all and now a long time friend from Texas A&M University of San Antonio Renee Orozco Hello candidates to stop this conception education is key to educate the general public about the LGBT community and what will you do to improve that education to end stigmas and misconceptions about the LGBT community well first what I would do is ask for your help how can I help you educate others because if anybody knows anything about having to deal with these issues it's going to be this community right here and this is where I need to come first what can I do to help up you is like I said before is standing up being the voice I know what it's like to be bullied and I know it's the strength I have to stand up against it so when people say whatever it is they want to say I'm not going to go with that I'm going to do what I feel is right that is standing up for freedom and equality and for people to have the ability to leave the lights they want to live I'm sorry I don't have a better answer to that but to me it's just and to me what it means to be a leader is to look to the person that left me the person that righted me and say you know what I have your back I'm going to make sure that we get through this together so that's what I'm going to try to do who are in the LGBT community and unfortunately some of them are HIV positive and they have a lot of trouble getting access to healthcare they're not getting hired because they have their HIV positive and they're being honest in an interview which they can't even ask us but so they come to me about discrimination issues they come to me because they're applying for disability because they just need Medicaid they need help so I think that's one thing that I really focus on is healthcare is access to healthcare and make sure that we have a program where no matter the status the HIV status you're going to have access to healthcare you're going to get treatment you're not going to go on disability because now you're able to have healthcare you get well enough to work so much from each other just in community in the work we're doing when we're protesting together when we're demonstrating together and I think that has been a huge classroom for me and for a lot of people I think we need to be sure that we protect our right locally to march in the streets to organize to freely talk about what we need to talk about to freely be able to ask each other questions to be able to call each other out to be accountable to each other and then of course beyond that to have that open door to City Hall to bring all of that collective knowledge and hold our city officials accountable on and on over and over again City Hall is not accessible to people the schedule for all of those citizens to be in our meetings when the city council meetings need to be changed so that more of us can get there before or after our work things and the people that we're learning from I think to answer your very good question this what we're doing now what's affecting your question you are educating us if we are to be elected this should never stop as elected representatives those who are at power now should be here now they should be listening to the concerns they should be carrying those concerns back to City Hall and back to their districts representatives from this group should be at neighborhood association meetings or at district meetings the conversation should be diverse and we should be informing each other about all needs not just one neighborhood association or another it should be a very diverse conversation another tool I think that we haven't mentioned but is technology I've become much more educated just through groups that are here today who have learned so many things just by social activists who are passionate and speak loudly continue to power then they're straight here would you repeat the question studies at the University of Massachusetts in Washington have found that LGBTQ people are paid far less than average demonstrate here again I think everything that we've been talking about speaks to that people are either uninformed about the fact that it is a human right to be who we are however we are and I think there's also the other thing that's happening is that people feel protected by current laws by current policy by current climate by political dialogue to have indiscriminating ways and to do them to push people to come out of themselves and be in the streets and come back home and advocate all of this discrimination would be that much more it would be no longer tolerated because people would be speaking out with us and those employers would be helping out to impose a pay and quality ordinance I think that's the evening pick at least for the city and then start there with the city and then try to expand out to the business community also make sure that that you use your platform really and expand that ordinance talk to your state representatives have a great relationship with our state with our state and those are two variables to throw LGBT community people so we started the city, we expanded the state and we've worked our way out and eventually take over the demand in the White House but I really think that just proposing that ordinance could go along with it so another difficult question thank you for that again once again I think we could propose a legislation here in the city to make sure that discrimination is not tolerated and I think the other thing we can do as a city itself is make sure that we're setting a good example by making sure that same type of behavior is not happening with city employees so I think that's really the basis let's look at what kind of legislation make sure that we're taking care of the city employees that work for us because my philosophy is you take care of people because people take care of the city so let's make sure that they're all treated fairly beyond that make sure to keep raising those setting those stats and being a voice for people we still need to hear that so thank you for calling that to all of our attention I completely agree with your recommendation if I were to be elected I would strongly support something that I might call a responsible employment ordinance and I think that would require all city employees as well as any contractor that the city did business with the types of discrimination were not tolerated in their employment practices so it absolutely is worth that so there are three organizations that have not yet asked questions we're going to get them to start the next group rather than this group because I would like to give we have just enough time probably to ask two quick follow up questions from the general audience anyone in the audience have a follow up question for these candidates from anyone the question concerns the non-discrimination ordinance the state legislature may pass legislation that says that our non-discrimination ordinance as well as non-discrimination ordinances all of the state are non void and we can roll over and play dead or we can take some strong initiative and you can answer this question either a hell yes or a hell no my question is if you're on the council would you take the initiative to get the city council to direct the city manager to direct the city attorney's office to file in state court and federal court the violation of the state constitution and the federal constitution federal constitution the 14th amendment equal protection and then article one in the state constitution which is the bill of rights in our state it's article number one file charges both in state and federal court to declare our right to enforce our local ordinance hell yes and again we need a majority of progressive candidates at city hall we're being recorded we're being recorded does anyone else have one follow up question do you need one writer? this is more of a statement than a comment or a question first I commend all of y'all for being here this evening and I commend those of you that have actually been able to stay at the LGBT tonight as well so my question or my comment is based on the LGBT community and what we have here in San Antonio the seven comparative cities that we have that since that community for other data and other information currently find the LGBTQ community centered as well as the LGBT community organization that offer social services to our community as a council individual what would you do to help fund or push that forward and push that needle a little bit more in the progressive direction to have our LGBT organization funded in San Antonio sure I think it starts with like you were saying have a progressive majority in city hall I absolutely support both the resource center and the program in order to provide resources for the LGBT plus Q community so I think that we should provide that as part of our funding city program as part of our annual city budget because of the statistics that we have talked about earlier the lack of access to health care mental health resources increase education across our city so absolutely I think that first we need to make sure that we get a progressive majority and we need to push for that hard legislation well I think that the free of funding first thing we have to do is look at the projects that are currently being funded and make sure we cut out the pet projects I know there's a lot of councilmen that fight for things that don't return a real benefit and I think a community center is something that would benefit relations and help everybody so I think one thing we need to do is make sure we look at our spending also how much our city manager and how much they're making and make sure that we're able to concentrate on what we need as a city starting with streets fire and protection and then making sure we have money for social issues I hope that answers your question you have to sort of make this phrase up but we need to raise our LGBTQIQ I don't think that as a progressive city in that way and hopefully a majority council would change that but there's city funding absolutely I think that's the number one thing we should do is city fund but once we've seen we raise our IQ in that way we'll be seen as a progressive city and then we can get that national funding and the number of our dollars here and get that national and get that money here and really start to fund it thank you absolutely we need to make sure that that center is funded the other thing that we also need to do is to diversify membership not only of city council but of all committees, commissions all of the groups that are doing all of the decision making at city hall to make sure that funds are more in our LGBTQIQ community right, throughout this city because again, all of these issues all of the pockets of funding they're all intersected they're all interrelated and we need to be sure that we're receiving that our communities are receiving the support we need in a holistic way not just certain very specific services so we're going to bring part one to an end and like we all stand up let's give them a big round of applause and thank you so we're going to take 10 minutes till 7.35 we're going to take a quick party break and switch candidates and district one and mayor mayoral candidates will be on the stage when we come back in 10 minutes there are so many people here and you guys did such an amazing job that some other candidates excited that they need to be here as well for LGBTQIQ and we vote and they're learning that so Ezra Johnson from district 10 will get 3 minutes to introduce himself and to speak by no question and then Anasando from district 7 will also get 3 minutes to speak and then we will move on to district 1 and we will do 30 to 35 minutes of district 1 and then mayoral candidates so thank you very much for allowing me some time on stage I apologize I wasn't here at the beginning of the event but very glad to be here my name is Anasando Manj I'm running for city council in district 7 that's the community where I was raised where I grew up and where I live today next door to my childhood home, next door to my parents so I sound very traditional in that sense I went to public schools where I graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and thanks to that I was able to travel and go to some schools outside of San Antonio I studied engineering on the east coast and I came back here I worked at Via for a couple of years so I'm a firm believer in having a safe reliable and a robust public transportation system that works for all San Antonians and thanks and after working there I moved to San Francisco where I lived for a number of years working in air pollution control and now I'm back here in San Antonio I think my district needs a strong voice at city council that's why I'm running could I get a sense of where folks are in the room geographically, districts 1 through 5 okay, 6 through 10 whatever happens at the council level affects all of us whatever happens at the council level affects all of us so I hope that you will see in me someone who is ready to represent all residents communities of San Antonio and help us move forward I've had the great pleasure of spending some time speaking with Mr. Robert Sancedo who's here today and have taken very much into consideration some of the concerns that he brought forward and I hope that I can be a champion for our issues and what we want to accomplish in the next few years at City Hall so thank you very much for your time if I could take a moment of personal privilege outside of my three minutes and just say very briefly how honored I am to share a stage with Ms. Sandoval she is one of my favorite human beings on the planet and I hope that any District 7 people please vote for her I'm a huge fan my name is Ezra Johnson and I'm running in District 10 in San Antonio just to introduce myself very briefly I am a husband two beautiful town teenagers I'm an attorney here in town and I'm also a semi-professional tuba player thank you I appreciate that one person just a little bit a little bit more information about me I'm a fifth generation Texan I grew up here in San Antonio I graduated from Madison High School I got my music degree from UT Austin I came back to San Antonio and was a music and mathematics instructor in the San Antonio Independent School District for six years then I went to St. Mary's Law School to get my law degree I graduated first in my class at St. Mary's University in 2008 I now practice oil and gas law and real estate law with oil companies break things and they often break things and when they spill things they often spill things I represent lane owners to keep them accountable the other thing I do is that I'm an adjunct professor of law at St. Mary's University I teach a federal procedure to the law students and I teach the American legal system to the master's degree students what I'm telling people is that I have spent my entire legal career building consensus among people who don't get along very well and to do the things that I'd like to do on council I usually include being a strong ally for the LGBTQ community because that affects my family it affects my family personally I have family members who are LGBTQ my oldest daughter is out and I want to be supportive of her and I want to be supportive of her life and so this is a personal so if you come to me with any issue please know that that will always be right here in my heart in my heart I ask company for your vote if you're in district 10 and my name is Ezra Johnson thank you very much thank you everyone thank you for coming out today so can I get D1 candidates please Michael Papadio Robert Peddiite is here somewhere who else is here from D1 so this is one where we're standing those of you who don't know much about city politics district one includes downtown and the neighborhood and so district one is near and dear to all of us so we expect to hear amazingly wonderful things from and I think there's one more is there one more in district one we're good so I didn't say it but we went to be in the rooms but we will put him up on stage when he gets here so I'd like to go ahead and start with district one conversation Robert Peddiite is a district one candidate and Michael Montagno is also here you will have each have two minutes to introduce yourselves this is an LGBTQ plus group of people and so we would hope that you would address the concerns of the gang strip LGBTQ community so we end with a coin and we're going to do an extra round of clips thank you my name is Michael Montagno I am running for city council here in district one and a great thank you all came out on the middle of the week when you could be doing any number of fun things besides politics so I appreciate your civic engagement and commitment to that I was born and raised here in San Antonio I grew up on the south west side of my childhood my parents believed deeply in education so they sent me to a small Catholic school that happened to be on the northeast side of town and what that taught me and what it demonstrated was that there are many parts of the city including many parts of district one that are deeply neglected but neglect isn't just about infrastructure it's not just about insufficient police funds it's also about turning a blind eye to some of the real needs of the most marginalized groups in this city and of course by that I mean the LGBTQ community here in San Antonio in San Antonio about 4% of the population identifies that way now when I was in college everyone always said it was actually closer to the general population they would say one in four maybe more so what that tells me is that we still have a city that is not fully respectful or inviting to people who are not cisgendered straight men thank you so as your councilman I will fight to make sure that this district remains not just the friendliest district for the LGBTQ community but also is a guiding light and it's not enough to be a passenger on the part of freedom you have to be in the driver's seat so it's not enough for your councilman to say we should oppose SB6 because it's bad for business the logical implication of that would be AOK that is not a moral stance that is not courage, it is a moral issue and on council I will oppose attempts to roll us back to 1950 at every step I will be your champion, I will be by your side and I look forward to answering all of your questions as the night goes on thank you I'm a labor and community organizer I currently work with the teachers here in San Antonio some of you might remember Harvey Milk who started off as a community organizer as well but soon realized he had to get into politics to help defend the system and defend a system that works for all people not the status quo that's why he got involved because all people need a voice in our political system especially the most disenfranchised here in San Antonio right now we are going to be facing greater oppression from the state greater oppression from our federal governments which makes it even all the more important for us to have a strong city council that has no problem pushing back against people like Dan Patrick and Greg Abbott and Trump and it's up to all of us to get involved to do that but we can't do it without having strong elected representatives of the city council it's extremely important because we cannot be marching the streets every day we're burnt out it's tough out there we need someone who's going to fight for the people of this district and as Michael said some of the most disenfranchised among us you talk about a city the size of San Antonio the seventh largest in our nation that has homeless youth out there on the streets every day and I've talked to people at Thrive Youth Center about what's going on and how the fact that we're not doing it enough when you talk about 85% of people who identify as trans who've been assaulted in their life at some point or another 50% of those people have been physically assaulted at some point in their life and at the forum I think that Colby Malcolm said something very important this is a gender issue 101 gender 101 issue that we need to be having with each other on education and as an organizer as a community organizer I want to make sure that we're all having this discussion together that we're all working together and that our district is a progressive district not a regressive district and I will fight always for what is ethically and morally right not what is socially or economically convenient so thank you very much so to ask our first question is an intern from the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center who is celebrating their 30th anniversary this year now and after SC6 has passed and one portion of that that we would like to hear answered is especially when it comes to interaction with the police force since many people have had bad experiences with the cops I didn't cut your name, what was it? Monica, thank you so much for that question Esperanza does great work and I'm glad that you're here tonight this is a fairly straightforward to me the state let the state recognize their discriminatory laws we will pass our own and if they want to take us to court we will do that if that's what it takes now, one thing to consider of course is I of course have my views about how this might work to our benefit it's important that we as a community make sure that we're working together to identify the best path forward certainly that's one path that might be successful another is to ensure that we have a small task force at least within the police department that will help protect people who are victims of crimes who are victimized because they are trans and I think I'll leave it at that thank you very much for your question thank you for the work that Esperanza Center has done I would agree we need, as I said a strong city council that is going to stand up for what is ethically and morally right to protect human rights for all people and human dignity for all people so if the state passes SB 6 it's important for us to have a strong city council here who is going to defend people and we all need to be working together to make sure that each other is protected we need to be doing education to make sure that other people understand this is a human rights issue that each person who chooses to identify their gender a certain way is not doing that to be falsifying that they're doing that to be true to themselves they're not trying to you know step into a different restroom some false false idea like that this is something that we have to educate each other on as far as the police goes there's been some good work already but bringing this task force together so we're educating people not just in law enforcement but in our schools too because there are a lot of aggressive bills that are also trying to be passed where education and our teachers would have to inform on our children or not be able to pass their own legislation within their school districts to protect the gender identities of their students so more education is extremely important here so now I would like from political leaders I would like to introduce Vanessa Sanchez not only do you support the use of saving money to assist in the funding of an LGBT center for essay but exactly what are your plans to try to improve what we have right now and expand on a future Pride Center I'm probably in support of using city funds to have a Pride Center here I've talked about this with people and political leaders before and since day one this being the mission to have a physical Pride Center not just a number that you can call I think is extremely important for a city this size and it's it's embarrassing to have a city this size that doesn't have one already I think that we can reach out to groups like like the SDU and I've been in contact with several of these groups already to see what we can do to put these different resources these different nonprofits together to do good work in one space or we can have a one stop shop where someone can get the social work health that they need if they're a teenage running a runaway that's been forced out of their home someone there who can counsel them who can help them get a job who can help them if they're trans help them get gender reassignment or home loan replacement therapy all of these things need to be considered HIV testing, STD testing all of this needs to be something that we need to be putting in a space that is easy for people to get to and easy for just general access to the public I think Robert said 95% of what I've already said I agree with everything he said I only have a couple of things really to the prior question about making sure that we're creating safe spaces for trans folks there are some walking things we can probably do around building standards to make it easier to create going forward a European style bathrooms with common wash basins and floor to ceiling stalls that are simply open to everybody that's a way to get around some of the contentiousness of that issue while still making it safe for everyone to use take care of their bodily functions in a way that is comfortable so everything Robert said for us that's not so representing representing the center Pride Center San Antonio with another question and it seems it's hard to read is that said way talking about the Pride Center it... remember to tell us here a question to the previous panel that was up here the top 7 cities San Antonio looks at in terms of comparative cities when we look at other economics evaluators who were pushing funding and budget to different topics and different conversations in the city of those 7 top comparative cities all of those up 1 has offered LVT services and LVT funding for services that promote within our community not only the diversity of our community we know the extent to which they work but how are we going to put the inclusivity of our own community but how are we going to bring that funding to fruition we have a lot of individuals that are in office right now that have a lot of talk they will say that yes we deserve it as we need it and we are also in within District 1 which is the heart of the neighborhood how would we expect or how should we move forward and see how you would fund other LVT community not only a community center but also the LVT organizations that are within our community because all of our organizations are all volunteer-run for the most part and let me segue remember to the world candidates most of them I think are also already here so this is a relatively young crowd this is not a presidential race the people in this room have long memories so we are going to expect what you tell us well thank you for the question I think there are probably pockets in the general fund so we can allocate straight up for a center like that well the thing I would mention is you know we go to Central Catholic downtown and then Yale College and Stanford for law school and after that I built a career across multiple sectors so I've been in nonprofits, I've been in government and I've been in the business sector so I bring that up only to say that it's important to think across sectors and so as council I think there is a way to use the bully pulpit the seat, the prominence of the position to go out to foundations which may be here in the city they may be national and say hey let's leverage some funding maybe we'll commit 30% to a center maybe we'll get 30% from a foundation maybe we'll get 30% from the business they want to make sure that they know that its employees are welcome in this city regardless of who they are or who they love so thinking through all aspects of the resources that are available and bringing them together to fund that kind of center is something I would work on so we're not just thinking in terms of only tax dollars but tax dollars plus, plus I would agree with Michael in saying that there's definitely a lot in our city budget that we should be re-evaluating in the first place a lot of wasteful pet projects that don't serve the needs of the people here in district one or the needs of the people in the city overall that we could be using to make this a more fair, equitable city for all people I would also say that what we really need is a plan and the political will to change things because we have the numbers we have people who are willing to do the work we all are out here because we care we just need to come up with a strategy and help realize it that's what organizing is about that's what building our community is about in order to make real change here we can push for a pride center this is a discussion that we've been having more and more recently that's why so many people are out here tonight to have a real discussion about the LGBTQ community and what we need to do in this city to protect ourselves and to make sure that we're not being marginalized anymore so I would say it starts with us starts with us standing up and saying what can I do what can I do, how can I talk to my neighbor how can I talk to another person in my community how can I make them understand the struggle that I'm in and I think that's how we're really going to accomplish what we need to accomplish here for District 1 and the neighborhood and to build a real pride center and help out all our allies in the LGBTQ community thank you so we're going to be talking about 10 more minutes but rather than using more organizations I would like to open the floor if anyone has especially follow-up questions or just a pressing question that they just can't stand enough to do that Hello, I'm Lydia Shelling I'm one of your constituents here in District 1 and I'm going to ask you very frankly you're all here obviously to advocate for the LGBT community but a lot of the issues we address are LGBT-focused issues I want to know how all of you will stress and educate yourself on trans-specific issues like extreme violence, police brutality and suicide all of them as the trans community's rights deliveries are also often left out when they throw LGBT to the right and also I'd like to point out it's especially important because as you said before all of them choose to be another gender but like to address they do not choose to be a gender other than the one you're talking about so I think constant education is important and I want to know how each of you will go about that thank you I thank you for that question because I think you're absolutely right trans people really are at the center of a struggle that a lot of people don't know about and you've had seven trans people murdered in 2017 already 26 or 27 last year in 2016 half of the homeless youth out there identify as trans and this is information again from talking to people at Thrive Youth Center who work with homeless trans youth most of them are being kicked out of their homes and Thrive Youth for example is the only trans youth homeless advocacy center in the south so there are not many in the whole country and this is the only one we have in the entire southeastern region here so it's a very serious issue and when you think about all of the things that a trans person has to deal with hearing stories about people who they want to go get a job they're going to go get a job everything looks great and then all of a sudden they look and say oh we just need your driver's license and here in Texas because your drivers they go by the gender and the sex you were assigned that you were given at birth all of a sudden makes it that much harder to get a job you're not able to use the restroom because you're holding it in all day because you're afraid someone might say something or attack you or you might lose your job all of a sudden there are a lot of health problems because of that and this is a serious issue and our schools too it starts young we would not tolerate racism in our schools from an early age we would do something about it why are we doing something about educating people about gender identity I think we have to be doing that early on we have to be partnering with our school districts here we have to be pushing groups to be more proactive in this they are very proactive on immigration reform making sure that undocumented people are being protected let's make sure that our teachers and our educators are also being proactive on educating people about gender identity and not just that you can go use the nurses restroom but you can use the restroom of the gender that you feel is your own so more education standing up and protecting people thank you so I think a partner question was about how we would educate ourselves and I think that's a really important point to make I don't have all the answers I won't ever have all the answers and I have no vested interest in my idea of being the best ideas what I care about is the outcome something I suggest well all I'm suggesting is an experiment and we'll see the works and we'll try the next thing until we get it right more specifically I think it's important for any council member to spend time meeting not only with the leaders of some of the groups that we know work closely with the LGBTQ community but also with the rank and power folks who get assistance from them so they can see up and down what the problems are they're not getting a particular perspective, they're releasing it from 360 degrees so that's something that's important to me and that goes not just to the organizational level but also the age and I think Robert made a good point about thinking about how we do things in the schools in the starting place the other is I hate the term sensitivity training because it almost sounds like you're saying oh if you go too sensitive we need to accommodate them somehow in an unreasonable way but whatever the better way of saying sensitivity training is it would be a good idea if we did that especially around the transgender issue for police and fire especially but also also the employees let's start the city council folks with where we can we know we can have an impact immediately on that with policies that affect our own employees and those who work for the fire and safety departments so those are some of my thoughts and I encourage you all to be around so if you have other things that you want to tell me about it, let me know