Weeks after San Antonio elected one of its youngest, most progressive City Councils this year, the city marked another new milestone by swearing in its first transgender council member, Leo Castillo-Anguiano.
The 27-year-old is wrapping up a two-month interim appointment in District 2, after council colleagues chose him from a pool of applicants to fill in during Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez’s (D2) paternity leave.
In his short but memorable time on the council, Castillo-Anguiano served as an outspoken critic of the city’s plans for a new NBA arena, a noticeable fresh perspective on housing issues and a reliable ally to a new mayor.
He also earned praise from his colleagues for his calm approach during tense times — like navigating a budget deficit with little agreement among a new team of council members.
“I would look over to [Castillo-Anguiano] and [he] was a voice of reason and practicality,” Councilman Edward Mungia (D4) said at their final council meeting together this month. “We needed that sometimes. All times, actually.”
In an exit interview this week, Castillo-Anguiano told the Report he agreed the council still has work to do gelling as a team.
“The people of San Antonio need a council that works together,” Castillo-Anguiano said. “If people know that you as a council cannot work together … they’re going to start picking and choosing who they want in and who they want out.”
“It’s really up to [the council and mayor] to have those hard conversations,” he added.
After the council appointment, Castillo-Anguiano is returning to work at the Thrive Youth Center, a shelter for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, where he took a leave of absence for this opportunity.
He said he’s absorbed much about the inner workings of local government over the past two months, and plans to move from his old social media and marketing position into an advocacy role at Thrive.
While the past two months haven’t sold him on a career in politics, Castillo-Anguiano said, speculation about his future has been on the rise.
He left council with an ambiguous goodbye last week, telling colleagues from the dais that it may be his last council meeting, “but you haven’t seen the last of me.”
The San Antonio Report caught up with Castillo-Anguiano to talk about his whirlwind stint at City Hall, making history as the first trans man to hold public office in Texas, and what’s next for his career.
The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
You came in at a hectic time, right after an election and just as the council was tackling the city budget. What motivated you to take this on?
I saw all the folks who applied for Jalen’s interim seat and thought, ‘Some of these names look familiar, a lot of them kind of ran and campaigned against Jalen.’ That didn’t sit right with me.
So, I had conversations with my friends, with Councilman McKee-Rodriguez. We talked about how it’s a critical two months because we’re dealing with budget, but also how this is a time where I can bring in a different perspective, because I do have a lot of knowledge and expertise working around the unhoused population, specifically LGBTQ+ youth at Thrive.
You also arrived as the council was voting on an agreement to help build the Spurs a new $1.3B downtown arena — moving the team out of the East Side’s Frost Bank Center. Were you lobbied from the minute you arrived?
The Hispanic Chamber came to speak to me, [Spurs lawyer] Bobby Perez came to speak to me, but it was never really a lobby. Everybody knew that District 2, it’s not something that we want. And everybody was very, very aware of that.
The East Side speaks for itself, you know. Look at the history, they have been severely left behind for generations and generations. It’s very clear that they don’t want this arena.
The people who coined that thought, [Project Marvel], I feel like this [rushed vote] was always their plan. If you have an idea and you’re keeping the public out of it … they should have just been honest with the public in the beginning.
I’m not surprised at all by the people who voted for it, it’s just disappointing that they couldn’t just agree with the four of us who voted against it to have a bigger conversation.
We have every power within ourselves to make change in local elections and with our local officials … that is where your vote is always going to matter the most. Some council members are getting so much backlash for voting on that term sheet, and it’s like, people elected you to be in that seat, and you’re not listening to them.
You mentioned during the budget vote that you were surprised to see so much thought and debate go into the Spurs arena and hiring more police officers — compared to very little discussion about housing and homelessness. Do you think this new progressive-dominated council is making its voice heard?
It kind of sucks that the media portrays it as the council versus the mayor. I do think that I see a consensus within council.
It seems like everybody has their own agenda, which you kind of should, because you know your own population, but that agenda shouldn’t minimize your impact from working with other council members.
For me, being a council member and being in those hard conversations and seeing the back and forth, it’s like, we really need to figure out how to talk to each other again, learn what basic human compassion is and figure out again how we can work together.
While you were serving on the council, a member of the public who regularly speaks at City Hall made threatening comments about trans people while addressing the legislature. You urged the council to keep standing up for the trans community in your absence. Do you think San Antonio is currently doing a good job of that?
If you just look at the political world, we need people who can step up and say no to hate. This city loves to pride itself on champion communities, whether it’s black and brown communities or queer communities. That’s cool to say, but let’s see that in action.
I think one really big step was the rainbow crosswalk, and the proclamation making [the Pride Cultural Heritage District]. That was huge, but that doesn’t mean we’re done. We need [leaders] to use their platform, speak out, and promote policies that help your people of San Antonio.
We have a very, very progressive council, which is really awesome. I can’t imagine anybody on council right now that would not put forth or agree with a policy that would benefit the LGBTQ+ community at large.
What’s next for you? Could you see yourself doing this job when McKee-Rodriguez is termed out in 2029?
I’ll be going back to Thrive next week, moving into a different position, so that’s going to be fun. I’m always at City Hall testifying, so you’ll see me around.
But that’s pretty much my groove, I’m not ready to leave. I don’t want to run for office. Everybody’s been asking me, but I’ve found that I make my biggest impact on the ground, being involved directly with the community.
I think I’ve done a great job with this interim [appointment] and I’m glad that I can open up doors for other folks in the queer community, because I do think that we need more queer and trans politicians who can tackle these hard positions.
This job was not easy. It was very stressful. I almost cried!
But, it was everything that I needed to really learn and ground myself again, and remind myself why I love the work that I do.
