San Antonio Forced to Remove Rainbow Crosswalks Under Texas Governor’s Directive

By Solange Reyner | Wednesday, 17 December 2025

The Texas Department of Transportation has ordered the city of San Antonio to remove its rainbow crosswalks by January 15.

The directive follows Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s instruction that municipalities eliminate “social, political, and ideological messages” from their streets.

“Texans expect their taxpayer dollars to be used wisely, not advance political agendas on Texas roadways,” Abbott stated at the time.

“Today, I directed the Texas Department of Transportation to ensure Texas counties and cities remove any and all political ideologies from our streets.”

Maria Salazar, chair of San Antonio’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee, characterized Abbott’s directive as “clearly aimed at the LGBTQ+ community. Because I don’t see any other projects being targeted.”

She added that the order “is based out of homophobia. It’s based out of fear. It’s based on erasing a whole community.”

Krista Cover, an attorney with the City of San Antonio, stated the city will “continue to recognize and support our LGBTQ+ community by installing rainbow-colored sidewalk treatment one block north and one block south of the intersection.”

The city of San Antonio filed an exemption request on November 5, arguing that intersections with the rainbow crosswalks—on North Main Avenue and East Evergreen Street within the Pride Cultural Heritage District—experienced fewer accidents since the crosswalks were installed in 2018.

However, Traffic Safety Division Director George Villarreal rejected the exemption request, stating the agency “does not consider this exemption request acceptable” and requiring the city to submit an updated exemption request addressing compliance or a plan of action by December 10 for removing the crosswalks.

Villarreal warned that “failure to comply with this directive may result in the withholding or denial of state or federal funds and/or the suspension of agreements between TxDOT and the city.”

In response, Assistant City Manager John Peterek asserted the city “continues to believe that the crosswalks in question are safer than before the installation of the rainbow-colored paint, that the intersection is safer than comparable intersections, and that it demonstrated the importance of the crosswalks to the Pride Cultural Heritage District.”

Peterek added that “the city will respect TxDOT’s decision.”