Wearing a pink hat adorned with the logo of the San Antonio Spurs, Robert A. Chavez smiled at the rainbow sidewalks nearby with pride.
“They are a symbol that we are still here,” Mr. Chavez, 67, said while sipping from a drink in the heart of a predominantly gay neighborhood in San Antonio. “We almost ended up with no rainbows at all in our area.”
The rainbows began disappearing this year after Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Transportation to remove the colorful crosswalks and similar markings. In a statement last year, he cited safety issues and opposition to political messaging as reasons.
After initial resistance from city officials, San Antonio decided that the risk of losing an estimated $80 million in funding from the state was not worth retaining the markings.
“I appreciate what our rainbow sidewalks represent. But, I’m the mayor of a major city in Texas, so I have to think about the consequences for everyone if our governor were to take away critical funding over this issue,” said Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, who is also gay. “As an Air Force and Iraq War veteran who served under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ my pride is not tied to this paint. It’s in my heart and head.”
It was Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, a gay City Council member, who helped devise a workaround: paint rainbows on sidewalks instead, in the Pride Cultural Heritage District that attracts many L.G.B.T.Q. people. Sidewalks are not under the jurisdiction of the state.
In March, those newly colorful sidewalks replaced the crosswalks that had been fixtures of the neighborhood since 2018.
“We thought, How do we send the strongest possible message to the L.G.B.T.Q. community that we’re not going to be bullied, and that they can get rid of the crosswalks, but we can follow that law and paint the sidewalks instead,” Mr. McKee-Rodriguez said.
Mr. McKee-Rodriguez said he considered Mr. Abbott’s directive to be an escalation of anti-gay and anti-trans legislation and policies coming from a Republican-controlled state government. In recent years, state officials have enacted laws and issued orders to limit drag queen performances, gender-affirming care for minors and how gender identity and sexuality are discussed in many public schools.
Mr. McKee-Rodriguez introduced a first-of-its-kind proclamation in San Antonio recognizing Trans+ History Week during the first week of May. The council later approved it.
A spokesman for Gov. Abbott did not respond to questions about the new sidewalk initiative or the city’s proclamation. Instead, the spokesman, Andrew Mahaleris, said, “Texans expect their tax dollars to enhance roadway safety, not advance political ideologies.”
Hector Barrera, who is a member of the city’s L.G.B.T.Q.+ Advisory Board and leans conservative, said he opposed the city spending nearly $200,000 of public funds to paint the sidewalks. He wondered: If the rainbow theme sidewalks were allowed to exist without a City Council vote, what was stopping other groups from adding other symbols around the city?
“You’re opening a Pandora’s box there,” Mr. Barrera said. “Who draws the line and who gets city funds to paint whatever they want on the sidewalks?”
San Antonio was not the only Texas city to initially oppose, and ultimately go along with, Mr. Abbott’s order on rainbow crosswalks.
A Houston council member, Abbie Kamin, initially accused Mr. Abbott of overstepping his authority by interfering with local decisions, while Christian Menefee, then the Harris County Attorney, suggested the city could challenge the threats in court.
In Dallas, the city tried to win an exemption from the state. Council Member Paul Ridley questioned whether the rainbow crossings posed any real safety issue. The rainbow crosswalks in both Houston and Dallas have since been removed.
In San Antonio, James Poindexter, who is part of Pride San Antonio, a nonprofit that once maintained the crosswalks, said he continued to wish that the city had defended the original markings.
“If we’re going to stand up as an L.G.B.T. community, the only way we can do this is to fight back,” he said.
The issue also resulted in a legal entanglement of two strange bedfellows, a local pride organization and a conservative organization, that ended up as joint plaintiffs suing the city over the rainbow crosswalks.
The nonprofit organization, Pride San Antonio, opposed the removal of the city-sanctioned crosswalks. And the conservative group, the Texas Conservative Liberty Forum, objected to the use of public funds on what it deemed “political public art,” said Justin Nichols, the attorney representing both organizations.
Mr. Nichols said during a court hearing that both parties came to him separately and that he merged the cases in a single lawsuit for legal efficiency despite their different ideologies. The case was ultimately dismissed without a ruling on the merits.
Sukh Kaur, the council member who represents the Pride Cultural Heritage District, said the rainbow-themed sidewalks provided an opportunity to retain a symbol of transgender rights.
Maria Salazar, a member of the city’s L.G.B.T.Q.+ Advisory Board, recalled feeling pride seeing the new sidewalk markings.
“It was absolutely worth using public funds for this,” Ms. Salazar said.
Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.
Edgar Sandoval covers Texas for The Times, with a focus on the Latino community and the border with Mexico. He is based in San Antonio.
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