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San Antonio a gay-friendly city in Texas

San Antonio ranks highly among LGBT spokespeople in terms of how they are treated, but overall, Texas is among the worst states in the country.

In the wake of the Orlando attack targeting that city's LGBT community, many want to know how the gay community is treated where they live.

Here in Texas, LGBT spokesmen say that a tremendous amount of work remains, but San Antonio still ranks highly.

The attack at the Pulse night club was a hate crime, and the LGBT community has long been the target of discrimination. In Texas, members say that the fight for equality continues.

“In Texas, it is still legal to get fired solely based sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Julian Tovar with Equality Texas. “There's no Texas law that prohibits discrimination in public schools and, currently, there are 19 million Texans living in communities that they serve that are not covered or protected by some type of non-discrimination policy.”

According to rankings from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Texas ranks among the worst states in the nation when it comes to social issues and legal protection of the LGBT community.

However, some cities in Texas, like Dallas and Austin, have 100 out of 100 rating for being LGBT friendly. San Antonio scored a 90 out of 100 due to the relationship between the San Antonio Police Department and the LGBT community, services and programs for the gay community, and the city's non-discrimination ordinance passed in 2013.

“It covers, in terms of public accommodations, it covers for housing as well as employment,” said Robert Salcido with Pride Center San Antonio, who also noted that the ordinance only covers public employees and not those who work with private companies. “When you look at things that happened in Orlando, that sets us back and lets us know that things aren't finished.”

While LGBT members know that full equality will take years, they work every day to ensure that progress is made.

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