During the last months of 2025, the city of Brownsville’s one and only LGBTQ+ Task Force faced a possible dissolution by its city commissioners, a decision that many Brownsville residents fought against but ultimately lost.
Nevertheless, the task force’s dissolution comes at a time that could not be more critical, when President Donald Trump’s threats toward the LGBTQ+ community have been incessant, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott has agreed to the changes happening not only across the country but in our state.
Created in 2019, the LGBTQ+ Task Force worked to give the LGBTQ+ community a voice in addressing discrimination and health concerns while advancing advocacy and inclusivity. By the end of 2025, the city felt that the task force had achieved its purpose.
Following an executive order to end “radical and wasteful government DEI programs,” the city moved to comply, as city officials feared that noncompliance would put more than $40 million in federal and state grants at risk.
With the dissolution of the task force, the city commissioners created the ONE CITY Committee, which is not funded by the city and will provide guidance on programs, policies, and activities that promote positive human relations and focus on human rights and issues affecting minority communities.
Brownsville Residents Speak Up on the LGBTQ+ Task Force
Six active members of the community in Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) gave their testimonies regarding the task force, why it’s important, and what the city could do better.
Souther Recio (she/they), owner of Cactus Valley Art & Supply Company, said the presence of the task force was important because she knows how important visibility and representation are, and they believe “our community deserves to be seen and represented.” Recio had advocated for the task force in person and on social media and had attended the city commissioner’s meeting on November 4, 2025, when the commissioners first announced they would be dissolving the task force, a move Recio saw as “cowardly.”
Vicente Martinez, Jr. (he/him), a community organizer and member of the LGBTQ+ community, was involved in the initial conversations in 2019 when the task force was first formed, and so the task force holds deep meaning for him. “[It] represents hope, as well as all the things that we went through, […] for our city to create a task force and for us to be seen by our city is something amazing,” he said.
Martinez also gave his thoughts on what’s been happening at the national and state level, “There’s a lot of anti-LGBT legislation being presented, […] we need more support from our community, allies, as well as the city that already formed a task force. So, by dissolving it, it feels like a slap in the face.”
Martinez co-founded the RGV Queer Run Club, where he posted updates on the club’s social media page to engage people on what was happening with the task force. Martinez also leveraged his experience as a community organizer to make a difference in the city. Martinez used the information that Joe Colon-Uvalles and MOVE Texas shared to mobilize community members by creating a document outlining the basics of testifying.
The Rider reported that during the first city commissioner’s meeting on the task force, “More than 50 residents registered for a comment on the item against its dissolution, of which only 22 made a comment during the period, expressing what the task force means for the LGBTQ+ community.”
Martinez talked about the testimony he gave during the meeting. “I talked about how I can withstand what’s being said at a national or state level, but the 10-year-old me who needed someone […] for them to be unapologetically themselves and for someone to advocate for their community. I want to be the person the 10-year-old me needed when I didn’t know who I was or what I was, but I knew I was different,” he said.
Em Lemon (she/they) is a public health researcher who moved to Brownsville for her career. Their partner, Ariana Garza (she/they), has a PhD, and they are both passionate about LGBTQ+ issues because they are part of the community and are raising queer children together.
For Lemon, the task force is important because it’s a publicly visible, city-supported effort to protect the LGBTQ+ community in Brownsville. “We represent everyday members of the community just like anyone else does, but we have a lot higher risk of suicide ideation, violence perpetrated against us, [and] discrimination. Because of that, we need [a] specific, targeted task force that shows the city is committed to making Brownsville a place that feels safe and welcoming for all members of the community.”
Lemon and Garza attended a community feedback session that the city hosted on November 17, 2025, after tabling the vote to dissolve the task force on November 4, 2025. Lemon shared that the session was not only disappointing but also “a total mess.” “It was just really disappointing to see that they felt threatened by us when, at the end of the day, it’s not them who are threatened, it’s our community, in very literal, violent ways. It’s not right that they were almost tired of us having any voice that wasn’t capitulating like they were,” they said.
Garza said that during the session, she didn’t hear a single community member advocating in favor of dissolving the task force, and that it was heartbreaking to see how city commissioners don’t share these same values. “The commissioners presented us with ‘data’ which mostly means dollar signs, as to how much money would be ‘at risk’ if the city chooses to remain an open advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, but they didn’t present us with what would happen once that protection is no longer in place. When that protection is called something else, and queer people can no longer see themselves represented by the city that is supposed to have their back in the face of discrimination and hate,” she said.
Sammy Jo Cienfuegos (she/her), a Brownsville resident and writer, also attended the session. Cienfuegos stated that her takeaways from it could be summarized by the former City Manager, Helen Ramirez’s, closing remarks: “We work with you, not for you.” For Cienfuegos, that comment was terrifying to hear, but Cienfuegos says Ramirez’s sentiment was made evident by the various commissioners who spoke over community members, made faces, and laughed while people shared their lived experiences. Furthermore, Cienfuegos thinks Brownsville could be a safe place for the LGBTQIA+ community, but it is not at the moment.
Viviana Treviño (she/her), a science lecturer in Brownsville, said the city has to increase transparency. “If there is a direct order from any city, state, or federal leader asking the task force be dissolved, or the city will lose X amount of money, we will understand. Without transparency, we are left to wonder why this was the first chosen to be dismantled, which will be next, and why we should support city leaders who fail to support us,” she shared.
Defending the LGBTQ+ Community, Together
If there’s anything that the dissolution of Brownsville’s LGBTQ+ Task Force has shown us it is that the people who came together, whether to attend city council meetings, community sessions, or leave public or virtual comments, still have the power to defend the same cause.
If no one had paid attention or fought, there would be no history of anyone who cared enough to stand up for the causes they believe in, in Brownsville or in the RGV, because LGBTQ+ rights are human rights, and we should not separate the two.
If you want to make more of a difference, support and help out in LGBTQ+ nonprofits, centers, and even queer-run clubs near you, such as the South Texas Equality Project, Casa Orgullo, and the RGV Queer Run Club, because even though they take away something so needed, such as LGBTQ+ representation, it doesn’t mean queer people stop existing!
