party central

Before gay marriage is even legal in the state? The Gay and Lesbian Wedding Expoat the Renaissance Hotel

This vendor supplies the complete media package, everything you need for yourwedding.
Photo by Garland Grey
They were each offering different services but each booth, each service, eachperson promised you one thing: they’ll take care of everything.
Photo by Garland Grey
Vendors demonstrated different chair decorations.
Photo by Garland Grey

This weekend I went to the 2nd Annual Gay and Lesbian Wedding Expo at the Renaissance Hotel. This was my first foray into the Renaissance, whose interior felt like a freshly-cleaved hunk of airport terminal. Their automated schedule screen did not include instructions on how to get to the event, or a map, so I hung around the stairs looking for queers who looked like they knew where they were going.

At the door of the Rio Grande ballroom I was greeted by Marianne Puechl, founder of Same Love, Same Rights, the organization staging the wedding expo. I took my lilac “gift bag,” which only contained an advertisement and a bookmark, and three different issues of their free reading materials, Rainbow Wedding Network Magazine. My decoy fiancé bailed to spend time with his girlfriend, so I told everyone he was working, but that he had sent me to collect brochures and collect estimates. I did this because I hate having people try to sell me things, almost as much as I hate wasting other people’s time, making this small loop of vendors and wedding professionals a nightmare gauntlet.

Having collected my “swag,” I made my way to the first few vendors. They were each offering different services but each booth, each service, each person promised you one thing: they’ll take care of everything. That was the line that came with a gregarious pitch and a handshake at the Premiere Party Central: “We take care of everything but the food.” The man said, admitting that if I needed a recommendation for catering they could tell me where to go. I looked at the swatches and moved on. I took a card for pole dancing classes from Inner Diva Studios. I avoided a table scattered with novelty glasses and fright wigs.

There were jewelry vendors, photographers, makeup artists, videographers; I had a lovely conversation with a pair of people at the travel agency about my plans to go to Europe next year, one of whom spoke eloquently and at length about Spain. Around the corner Sushi Zushi was giving out sampling plates and discussing catering options. Plate in hand I walked up to the C. Kirk Roots Design booth and asked to be shown “something simple.” The salesman produced a featureless tungsten wedding band. It was gorgeous. It was the exact opposite of everything I hate about weddings, functional and to the point, completely free of pointless spectacle. I wanted to purchase it on the spot, before I realized that it would be creepy to buy the ring before I found someone to wear it for.

The expo was small and a little disappointing, there is no denying it. As one of my more obnoxious straight friends put it, “You’re having the wedding expo before you can legally get married in the state?” and for once I agree with his obnoxious assessment. I understand the social function of a marriage that people enjoy and cherish, apart from the legal benefits and responsibilities that are denied queer couples in Texas, but I personally do not see the point. Unless a wedding can offer some legal protection, I’m not prepared to buy into the Wedding Industrial Complex’s sales pitch. Weddings are far too expensive and time consuming for me to waste my time having one in a state that doesn’t view me as a full citizen.

However, speaking as someone who has no idea how weddings are planned and arranged, it was nice to see my options spread out in front of me like that. It allowed me to start out with a template and look at options and numbers, and if I had actually been planning a wedding, I would have been really grateful. And because the event was small each person was given much more individual attention, so couples were free to ask questions and educate themselves on the possibilities they had access to. Even though I’m certain that my wedding will be low-key and will not take place in Texas, I’m still going to leaf through the magazines and keep an open mind.

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Red Light

San Antonio leads Texas on ending horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

San Antonio has pulled off something that the rest of Texas has yet to do, but it didn't come without some contentious conversations. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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