The 10-Year Fight for Pride in Austin ISD

Education Austin, the local educators’ union, participating in 2014’s Pride parade (courtesy of Education Austin)

As Meghan Buchanan tells it, Austin ISD officials were worried about “brand risk.”

It was 2014, one year before the nationwide legalization of gay marriage, and then-Superintendent Paul Cruz wanted to represent Austin’s public school system in the annual Pride parade, the citywide celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community. Representatives from most of the city’s other major institutions – City Council, the police department, businesses, churches – had marched in the parade for years. But was it the right time for AISD to get involved?

Buchanan, then an AISD high school teacher, believed it was past time. “I remember talking with Ken Zarifis, the president of our union, Education Austin, about my disappointment that Austin ISD was not represented,” she said. “We agreed this was an issue that we could organize around. We created a small committee focused on LGBTQ inclusion and Ken invited me to serve as co-chair.”

Members of the committee went to Cruz to ask for the district’s formal participation in Pride. Cruz wanted to do it. “I was on board because I did believe in 'All means all’ – that was actually the district’s motto,” Cruz said. “That was one of our values as an organization. But yes, there were concerns.”

Those concerns were spelled out by the district’s legal counsel and a member of the communication team in a series of meetings two months before the parade. “They were worried about the parade being at night, Downtown, near bars,” Buchanan said. “I don’t remember who, but someone said the parade would be a 'brand risk’ and asked, 'What if there’s a picture of Dr. Cruz with a leather daddy – I think the person said 'leather daddy’ – in the background?”

It wasn’t something that others were worried about. Then-trustees Gina Hinojosa, Jayme Mathias, and Ann Teich, for example, were very pro-march. But the “leather daddy” argument carried the day. The district wouldn’t formally participate.

Buchanan and Zarifis weren’t deterred. “We in Education Austin knew that we were going to march,” Zarifis said. “We didn’t see this as risky business at all. We saw this as a great opportunity and a wonderful thing. So we went out, we had a small group, 20 to 30 people, not that big. But we had our banner, we were out there marching, and we were very proud of that.”

Mario Suarez, then an AISD teacher, was part of the group. He was unsure how his participation would be received by his bosses. “People were not as accepting, even though it was Austin, of LGBTQ issues,” Suarez said. “I’m a member of the trans community and you could still be fired for being trans, right? Gender identity was not protected under the law. So the teachers and administrators that showed up were really, literally, putting their jobs on the line.”

Suarez was also uncertain how those watching the parade would react. That was quickly cleared up. “We were coming down Brazos where it turns into Fourth Street, where the largest part of the parade was going through,” he said. “That’s where a lot of the parents were. And I got chills because there were so many people clapping and cheering for the small number of teachers, administrators, students, and staff members that showed up marching. I still get chills thinking about it. It was one of the best days of my career.”

Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura stands for a photo with an AISD employee in drag (courtesy of Devon George)

Buchanan was also deeply moved. “All the little kids, all the families that show up at Pride, were overjoyed and running out into the street to hug us,” she remembered. “I don’t think I had realized before that point how important it was for them to see the whole district and the superintendent and everybody marching, visibly supporting LGBTQIA+ people.”

Christina Burbank, who’s helped organize the district’s participation in Pride for the last several years, said it is students who need the support most of all. “Any marginalized group of people, when you see an effort made and you belong to that group, it gives you some inner strength to know that you’re supported for who you are. That can have an impact on your attendance, which has an impact on your academic achievement. And when I think about history in general, like, which side of history do you want to be on? I just feel like inclusion is the right side to be on.”

In their reporting on the 2014 march, media outlets drew no distinction between Education Austin’s presence in the parade and AISD’s – as far as the reporters were concerned it was the district that had marched. And the coverage was overwhelmingly positive.

“It pretty much just caught on like wildfire,” Cruz said. “Now, there were some that weren’t happy, and I heard about it. But the majority of responses we got were really positive.”

In the months after the parade, district leaders put a logo of the Pride flag on their website. They established an official LGBTQ Advisory Committee, which drafted a proposal to add gender identity and expression to the district’s anti-discrimination policy. They advocated for the implementation of the district’s Welcoming Schools program, to promote inclusivity. The district officially joined the parade in 2015, with Cruz and other district leaders marching alongside the band and dozens of staff and students. By the end of the decade, AISD’s Pride celebration included Pride Week in March and Pride Month in June.

Today, Pride is a cornerstone of AISD’s identity. The three superintendents since Cruz have marched with no concerns about whom they’re pictured with. That includes the current super, Matias Segura. As Segura marched in last year’s parade, AISD employee Devon George approached him for a photo, dressed in drag. The superintendent did not shrink away. An onlooker snapped a shot. In 10 years, the district had gone from being mortified by the possibility of such a photo to being unconcerned about it.

George sent the Chronicle a copy of the photo, saying he is grateful to work for a district that is unafraid to openly support its LGBTQIA+ employees and students. “I feel super safe because of how supportive they are, I do,” George said. “And it’s the way they show their support. I can’t even tell you how many people in the parade were wearing our 'Y’all means all’ Pride shirts. That’s the one the superintendent is wearing in the picture.

“It’s just nice to feel supported and to represent my school district. And I’m doing it again this year. I’m already in the process of making my outfit and finding the right wig.”