San Antonio’s first gay mayor, Democratic Gina Ortiz Jones, is under fire for comments about Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to remove the city’s only rainbow crosswalk, at the heart of San Antonio’s gayborhood.

A short address from Jones, made at a Thursday night celebration marking the area’s designation as a cultural district, received an underwhelming response from attendees, as the onetime Under Secretary of the Air Force in the Biden administration appeared to decline to fight back against both Abbott and the Trump administration.

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Jones seems to have preemptively retreated from disputing Texas Gov. Abbott’s directive under the threat of “retribution.”

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“There’s a number of ways we can show our pride, make sure our community feels seen and heard, and we are not inviting unneeded retribution against the most vulnerable in our community,” Jones told the crowd.

While Jones says San Antonio will file for an exemption to the directive, she’s clearly given up hope.

“My pride is not tied to this paint,” she said. “You know why? Because it’s in my heart and in my head. No one is going to take away who we are, what we have contributed to this city, to this state and to this country. It doesn’t matter what they say. We will move forward. We know our worth. We’ll just figure out a different way.”

San Antonio is home to the Alamo and host to several military installations, earning it the nickname Military City, USA.

The evening rally featured several speeches from community groups and members, and attendees signing a resolution urging the city council to keep the crosswalk. Two district council members in attendance signed; Mayor Jones did not.

The rainbow crosswalk at Main Avenue and Evergreen was installed in 2018 with about $19,000 in privately raised donations, Texas Public Radio reports. It’s the only city intersection with a decorative crosswalk. Other Texas cities have already removed some of their rainbow crosswalks, including Houston and Dallas.

James Poindexter, secretary for Pride San Antonio, was disappointed with Jones’ response to Abbott’s crosswalk removal order, which he said targeted the LGBTQ+ community specifically.

“She’s made decisions without talking to stakeholders in the community. She’s made these decisions just flippantly on her own without really having extensive conversations on her own, which is what last night could have been,” Poindexter told KSAT News on Friday.

James Barker, a business owner in the area, had words more in line with the spirit of resistance the crowd was looking for.

“One thing I want the community to remember is long before this crosswalk arrived, we were here, and they may take it, but after Trump and Abbott are long gone, we’ll build a bigger and better one,” Barker said.

Mayor Jones had a different message.

“Let’s focus on what we can achieve, right? And I want to manage people’s expectations. Let’s be pragmatic. What can we actually get done? That’s what I want to focus on,” she said.

City attorneys have until November 8 to file an exemption for the crosswalk’s removal under guidelines provided by the Texas Department of Transportation.

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