Victor Ortega BROWNSVILLE – The City of Brownsville Commissioners postponed a vote to dissolve its LGBTQ+ Task Force last week, after public outcry during its public comments.
Just a few seconds before public comments, John Cowen, Brownville mayor, revealed that city officials sought to dissolve the task force to make way for a human rights and non-discrimination board.
“[The task force] has now given us the insights and groundwork we need to take the next step, institutionalizing those efforts permanently through a human rights and non-discrimination board,” Cowen said.
Several audience members shared their distrust on the decision, calling it “damage control” from the community’s outrage.
After an outcry of over 20 public commentators advocating to keep the task force, the decision was postponed.
“My perspective, I think it’s important to get, you know, engage more with the community on this item. Obviously, there’s a lot of people that came here and expressed some very personal experiences,” Cohen said.
Viviana Trevino, School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences lecturer, was one of the speakers.
“It just really doesn’t make sense to me to see the dissolution of a task force that has been helpful in increasing visibility,” Trevino said in an interview with KVAQ-TV two days after the meeting.
According to the City of Brownsville’s website, the task force was formed in 2019 to enhance awareness, advocacy, policy development, inclusivity and cultural competency on matters affecting LGBTQ+ individuals.
Texas Rising’s Brownsville chapter, a program for equality and social justice in the state, posted on social media to rally support for the task force ahead of the meeting.
Jayson Martinez, the Texas Rising advocacy and field organizer, said members of the task force have joined them in events for their advocacy efforts on college campuses.
“We’ve worked with them on our banned book series, which we held in the spring semester here on the UTRGV side, as well as our Queer Space Alliance, which happens on our [Texas Southmost College] chapter,” Martinez said.
A commissioner’s meeting is expected to be scheduled soon to listen to more people comments before making a final decision on the LGBTQ+ Task Force.
