The story behind the rainbow flag displayed outside Judge Rosie Speedlin González’s Bexar County Court-at-Law No. 13 courtroom office includes a disturbing chapter that has finally concluded, though it’s ending is a bit sad.
When she took over the County Court-at-Law No. 13 bench in 2019, Speedlin González, the first openly gay Latina judge elected in Bexar County, chose to display the pride flag in her court next to the U.S. and Texas flags behind her bench.
To Speedlin González, the flag, which was given to her by Orgullo de San Antonio, the local LGBTQ council of the League of United Latin American Citizens, was a way to show support for inclusiveness, self-acceptance, unity and pride.
But defense attorney Flavio Hernandez filed a complaint in 2019 over the rainbow flag as well as a motion to recuse Speedlin González from presiding over his cases because of the flag. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct sanctioned Speedlin González. She moved the flag to outside her office.
The commission said the rainbow flag created the appearance of a partisan bias and issued a private warning about displaying the pride flag, ordering Speedlin González to receive additional education. The commission also issued a public warning to Speedlin González and ordered her to receive “additional education” after finding that she willfully violated the Code of Judicial Conduct by congratulating winning attorneys in her courtroom and posting their pictures on her professional Facebook page.
But recently, a three-judge panel overruled the commission’s disciplinary sanctions. In a 15-page opinion dated Jan. 30, the judges said the commission “failed to plead and prove” that Speedlin González’s actions “constituted willful or persistent violations of the Constitution or the Code.” The panel concluded the commission, which found her “not guilty of all charges,” failed to meet its burden of proving Speedlin González willfully violated the Canons of Judicial Conduct.
We’re encouraged by the panel’s decision. But despite winning her appeal, Speedlin González will not move the flag back into her courtroom; instead, it will remain at the entrance of her chambers. She told us her “detractors are relentless in their moral crusade” and though she knows she can’t stop further grievances, she wants to be proactive.
“A good friend said to me, upon learning we were appealing the commission’s findings and sanctions, ‘Remember it is more important that we have YOU on the bench than have our FLAG in the courtroom,’” Speedlin González said. “So our goal was to show how we are treated differently as defendants and yes, even as judges. That goal was accomplished in spades.”
Speedlin González said she will continue to “work to minimize baseless grievances, knowing grievances will continue to be filed, despite how well I do or how hard I work.”
It’s helpful to understand where the story of that flag outside Speedlin González’s court began, with the attorney who made the original complaint. Hernandez found the pride flag offensive and wanted all his cases moved out of her court. He later told Express-News columnist Gilbert Garcia: “I may not be able to turn the dark tide of immorality sweeping through our nation like a virus, but in my small way, I voiced my support of traditional American family values.”
The real issue here isn’t the flag, the presence of which has no bearing on Speedlin González’s work ethic or her ability to be fair and impartial. The issue is Hernandez’s hostile view of the LGBTQ+ community.
Just because Speedlin González was elected judge doesn’t mean she has lost her First Amendment rights. The presence of the flag is not a ruling on a particular case or the admonishment of a party in court. Like others on the bench, she should be judged by her work ethic, demeanor, fairness and outcomes.
It’s important to remember the story behind the rainbow flag. It was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist and gay-rights activist. The flag was first displayed at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978.
According to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, two weeks after its formal entry into MoMA’s collection, the rainbow flag was hung for the first time in the museum’s galleries on June 26, 2015, the day the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all states. Today, the rainbow pride flag is a powerful symbol of progress toward acceptance and the fight that must continue.
The American values we should all aspire to are love and acceptance.
San Antonio Express-News
