 I had him said tonight about living in the courtroom as a way to fight. And we know that is one way, but I believe that to also honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg's entire legacy, we need to use every single tool that we can. So that means to organize. That means petitions. That means rallies. That means to vote. That means to register people. That means to do the census. That means every single tool that we can. The reality is that the decision is devastating. The fact that we decide for a vote and put a general vote without vote, we don't know what the people are going to look like. But then when we stand, we'll continue to be here for the immigrant community. And that means to go and have DACA. That means every kind of immigrant, right? And we ask that you join us in that fight. So like I said, that looks like organizing. Looks like policy. Looks like a bunch of different things. And there's a room for all of us in our country. Thank you. I will have it with Lila, with Antonio. We will also, on the merit, open to the advisory board. Maria Salazar. I'm one of the speakers first that are going to be speaking and just a little bit. We have several judges in the audience who are going to be making remarks in the presentation. So please stay. I'm so, so happy to see so many of us gathered here. My name is Maria Salazar. I'm going to talk about who I am. Workers. My family comes from the valley. I was raised in Oregon picking sugar beets and onions. And I went on to get a bachelor's degree. I am now an attorney. And I practice in this courthouse advocating for children. When I think about Ruth Bader Ginsburg and reflect on her life, there are two things that came to mind. She was absolutely relentless. No se dejaba. She was absolutely relentless and no se dejaba. My entire life, I was told I couldn't do things. I was told I couldn't go to college because farm workers didn't go to college. I should go to vocation school. I was told I couldn't go to law school. I didn't go to law school until I was 37. I was told that I couldn't wear a bow tie in this courthouse when I first started practicing 14 years ago because there was a dress code. I am gender nonconforming. I wear bow ties to the courthouse. And I am proud to be a part of this bar in Texas. I am proud of the bench that we elected in the last term because it is the most diverse bench we have elected in this state. Never mind that happened also in Wesses County and in Harris County. That was the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was told why in this law class a man could be there. She was told she couldn't be a clerk at the Supreme Court, but there she was. She was relentless. My entire life and everyone who's here you know that what she did with the power of the pen affected your life. We have firefighters because of the work she did for women in the workplace. We have maternity leave and women can pursue and then the choice of raising a family because there's maternity leave. And we have protection as lesbian and gay by sexual transgender people because of her work. If there's a woman's firefighter out there it is because of the power of the pen of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If we have education and young girls able to compete athletically it's because of the power of the pen held by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I wouldn't be here and many of us here wouldn't be here with the opportunities and the ability to pursue our dreams without that voice on the bench. Recently, I'm going to turn it over and I'd like to have my colleague and my dear friend who is also a member of Little Wheel who is the past national president of the LGBT Bar Association and who is a 15 year at least, 20 year civil rights attorney with BEOC and I'm going to turn it over to him. He recently had the opportunity to hear Judge Ginsburg on the bench and has interfaced with her throughout his life and so I'd like to have him talk about the recent work that Judge Justice Ginsburg pushed forward. Thank you Maria. Like Maria said, my name is Eduardo Gavadas and I am a federal civil rights attorney at the BEOC. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an icon and I am for civil rights but we have icons and lines for civil rights and I don't think Vienna is one of them. So I want to thank you that Maria actually invited me to say a few words. So at BEOC, one of the laws that we enforce is Title VII which prohibits discrimination on sex. And for the last about 15 years, myself and the agency have been working on developing the law prohibiting sex discrimination in Title VII to cover sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. Hard work not only by people within government but outside public interest lawyers. All across the nation, first activists during the lawyers last year, a trio of three court cases came before the Supreme Court. The issue is whether Title VII because of sex language in Title VII whether that covers discrimination based on LGBTQ standards. We got a decision in June and we're victorious. The court held that yes, it is now the law of the land that an employer cannot discriminate against someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. And what I wanted to say about Lusvader Ginsburg is that Congressman Castro mentioned how her work has impacted a wide variety of areas involved. But the work that she most focused on especially before she became a Supreme Court justice was on sex discrimination. And that work, the work that she made, her work was basically about gender stereotypes, about discrimination based on that we don't meet. The woman or man doesn't meet the stereotype notions of what a man or a woman should act like or look like or get some. And that work she did for all of her life as a direct and strong link to the case dealing with LGBT. Those of you who are LGBTQ, those of you who have families that are LGBTQ, those of you who are friends, we owe a great deal of gratitude to Lusvader Ginsburg. For example, she fought to the very end. She worked to the very end. And our work is not done. Maria told me that I should mention that we have the Quality Act that still needs to be passed. Thank you so much. Next I want to call up three incredibly talented judges in our community. Judge Rosie Gonzalez from County Court 13, Judge Stephanie Boyd of the 187th Criminal District Court and Judge Golanda Huff of Bear County Number 12. I think like many of you, I was in shock last night when we got the news about the passing of Justice Ginsburg. I got nauseous, I got a headache. I was up till 3.30 in the morning with my thoughts just racing. So I put pen to paper this afternoon and I hope you don't mind that I read some of my comments to you tonight. Tonight we come together to mourn the loss of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And we also come together to celebrate and revere her life and her legacy. Let us begin with the end. As the sun began to set in the western sky yesterday, we learned of Justice Ginsburg passing after her long and tough battle with cancer. As the first Jewish woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, it holds special meaning that she passed on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the eve of the Jewish New Year. The Jewish faith teaches us that those who die before the Jewish New Year are the ones chosen by God to be held back until the last moment because they are needed most by us and are the most righteous. This is interesting to note because Justice Ginsburg was indeed one of the most righteous ever. Throughout her life, she ensured that so many receive the righteousness they deserve. Justice Ginsburg's legacy as a champion of equal-wise shall not be forgotten. She fought her entire extraordinarily distinguished legal career to give voice to the voiceless and demand a seat for everyone at the table. She was a trailblazer who made a path for so many who came behind her like Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan. In Texas, Justice Eva Longoria. Here in San Antonio, Chief Justice Alma Lopez, Judge Mary Roman, Judge Gloria Saldana. All firsts in their respective seats. She will continue to be a catalyst for change and progress for so many of us who have yet to realize our goals and dreams. This is the reason for what we have started to be witness to today. A tsunami of women and young women who are rising to meet our present challenges and who will inevitably and surely change the world. Justice Ginsburg was a champion for equal rights long before she reached the highest court of the land. She was pivotal in launching the women's right project to pursue and fought for the passage of the ERA. We still need to get that done. She wrote the majority opinion in the VMI case which struck down their male-only admission policy. She wrote a dissent opinion in the Leadbetter case, an employment discrimination case that stood for equal pay for women. And although she may have been in the minority opinion in Leadbetter, two years later President Obama wrote a dissent opinion in the Leadbetter fair pay act which effectively overturned the Supreme Court's prior ruling. Though her actions, through her actions she modeled for us the deep differences of opinions should not keep people apart. Like she did through her close friendship with the late Justice Scalia. Though her advocacy and opinions, through her advocacy and opinion she ensured that women without gender discrimination she is the reason women can have their own bank accounts, credit cards and do this independently without the need of having a husband. She is the reason that I could marry my wife Dr. Stacy Speedland. She is the reason why our transgender brothers and sisters no longer have to fear being fired from their employment. All of us regardless of gender or political affiliation are better and stand on her shoulders. And even before she became a lawyer she did exactly what many of our mothers our grandmothers, our aunts our comadres have done. She put her husband through college while he had cancer and while getting a law degree and she worked to pay the bills and raise the child she went to school and took notes for her husband so he could also pass his classes and she still graduated at the top of her class. She did all of this at a time when women were unheard of in the legal profession. Through her two most notable words I dissent. She taught us civility. She taught us that a minority sentiment still held value. She taught us that just because our voice may be drowned out by the majority we are not wrong. We are not voiceless. Tonight we mourn and we celebrate together. In a few weeks I challenge all of you to honor Justice Ginsburg her servant heart and her leadership and her legacy by voting and to paraphrase Justice Ginsburg we are dejected but only momentarily then we must go on to the next challenge and give it our all. I will leave you with this the first peoples of North America the Inuit tribe believe that when a cherished loved one transitions to the next world they do not die but rather rise to the heavens above where they become a star in the night sky where they will sit to watch over us every night to ensure that we live to see the light of every new day until we are reunited in heaven. So tonight and any night when you feel alone or despondent raise your eyes and look into the sky I am sure Justice Ginsburg is looking down on us keeping us safe Justice Ginsburg tonight we honor you as a trailblazer tonight we honor your incredible contributions and tonight we affirm you will always be for all of us the notorious RBG Tonight we all mourn and we mourn because we have lost someone who was important to us a trailblazer but tonight we should also celebrate and the reason why we should celebrate is because Justice Ginsburg was a good and faithful servant and when good and faithful servants do what they should do for others they are deserving of their rest each one of us stands on her shoulders I stand on her shoulders all of the women in this audience stand on her shoulders the men who are in this audience whether you know it or not you stand on her shoulders your wives your sisters, your grandmother Justice Ginsburg guess what she was a good and faithful servant because she got into good trouble with no thought of self because that's what a good and faithful servant does a good and faithful servant is not making the world a better place for themselves they are making the world a better place for others Martin Luther King Jr would often say I'm not doing this for me my dream I'm not going to be able to see it but I want our grandchildren and our children's children to be able to see it and that's what Justice Ginsburg gave to us a better place now what must we do and what do we own we need to be good and faithful servants we need to make the world a better place not for selfish reasons it is not for us that we make this world a better place we need to make this world a better place for others and she did that so I rejoice in my faith that a good and faithful servant is resting and as we say she is resting in power and so what I want everyone here to do I know people have Facebook Instagram you need to make sure that you are doing everything you need to do to continue her dream that means reaching out to other people voting is important you need to reach out to other people you need to make this place such a place that somebody can stand at this stage and say about you you were a good and faithful servant and I am standing on your shoulders so let's go out and let's be good and faithful servants like the justice so that other people can stand on our shoulders and say that we were good people so tonight I rejoice in the fact that justice Ginsburg was good for us that she is resting in power thank you good afternoon everyone remembering the notorious RVG for I say her name I want everybody in a resounding voice to say presente Ruth Bader Ginsburg presente she lived 87 remarkable years on this earth before she ever made it to the supreme court she had already won 5 landmark cases on the behalf of women on behalf of civil rights and on behalf of the rights of the LGBTQ community and at her confirmation hearing she didn't shy away from controversial issues like abortion rights she believed all women had the right to make the choice the best choice for their life when she fought for the rights of women to enter the Virginia military institute she truly believed and knew that they would be proud of the women that they went to study and graduate from there she told them so she was consistently progressive she fought for the separation of church and state it was so powerful to see a woman so tiny and stature because in spite of that she was intimidating she had an amazing sense of humor and she was never afraid to speak truth to power regarding women and minorities she absolutely changed the way her role is for women she has been and always will be our rock star she told us fight for the things you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you it was said that she walked in the path of profits together let us walk with her always Ruth Bader Ginsburg Bresente and now we have Irene Chavez representing the Cesar Chavez Educational Fund your daughter with an original poem Bresente yes so it's my honor to be here on behalf of the Cesar Chavez Legacy and Educational Foundation we are in community with you and thank you again to everyone including Marisa and Selena for creating a space where we can heal together there has been so much trauma from this administration from this pandemic being in community with us I was a little emotional with my daughter last night and I crafted this poem so I wanted to share this with all of you in a place not made for you you built a life and cleared a path filled with sorrow from your own mother's passing you found the words to give your valedictorian address for your high school because you heeded your mother's advice be a lady take a deep breath and speak calmly Ruth Clinton said you didn't need a seat on the court to earn your place in history you were making history every day with a compassionate heart a temperament for healing and unwavering faith you fought for women all women, black, brown conservative, moderate, liberal you believed the words etch into that stone equal justice under the law working sleepless nights in your office you worked until the job was done you built a dream and you shared it with other women who loved justice just as much as you did who could see now themselves in black robes you reassured us that our place was in the courts you gave that vision of what could be to us and to our daughters so many of us are recipients of your work, your dedication those who ever played a sport in school to have a credit card in your own name to have a lease of an apartment or to have your own property in your own name to have consent for your own medical treatment we have you to thank for that how will we honor your legacy we will keep our hands raised in the classrooms until they are answered we will keep our heads high we will keep talking about injustice in our own community we will not stay quiet we will register our friends and our neighbors to vote and with grace and with strength and love we will all take a deep breath and speak calmly thank you we just heard about the importance of registering our friends and family to vote we have 100 voting brigade and Latina vote here with us registering people to vote and I'd like to call Kelly Rosa and Dr. Carla Duran to share a few words about the efforts of of these groups but also like to encourage everyone to go to ridesharetovote.com it's an app where folks with mobility challenges or lack of access to transportation can get a ride to the polls I'm Kelly Rosa Cabrano Romero I'm here as part of an organization well, of many people but of an initiative initiative for 100 people to vote with new people and this is a piece of art that a local female artist called Hector Garza believed yes, a round of applause for Hector together with an organization from the West Side called La Princería with the executive director Harvey Mireyes and the goal of the poster of the print editor with her tonight so this is for her we hope you all enjoy please register to vote take your friends to vote make sure that your neighbors know who to vote for it's so important and thank you very much