With an air of celebration, Stonewall Warehouse opened its doors as San Marcos’ first-ever gay bar in late 2014, the same year the city was painted with the colors of the rainbow for its very first pride parade.

For many, the bar is a symbol of social progress in Hays County, previously a severely underserved area in terms of LGBT-specific gathering places, said Stonewall General Manager Chris Rue. But after an attack on a local drag performer last month and amid concerns of what a Trump administration might represent for LGBT rights, Stonewall is also becoming the cornerstone of a budding support and safety network for the local LGBT community.

Popular Stonewall drag queen and San Marcos native Chitah Daniels Kennedy remembers a pre-Stonewall San Marcos where local LGBT people hopped from bar to bar, yearning for a common gathering place meant specifically for them.

"There was really, for several years, nothing for our community," Kennedy said. "And not to have that, you know, it’s like you’re not recognized. You’re almost invisible. The community is there but you have no home base."

The bar opened in December 2014. Rue said Stonewall takes pride in being one of the only bars in town that has an age limit as low as 18 years old because he feels it’s important for young people to feel welcome at a safe, fun place.

"I look at this also through the eyes of a student in that I, too, used to be 18 and closeted, and I know what it’s like not to have a safe or welcoming place I can go," Rue said.

He said couples from more conservative cities such as New Braunfels, Kyle, Wimberley and Lockhart also frequent Stonewall on a regular basis.

Stonewall’s purpose transcends that of a bar, he said, because as the local LGBT home base, it serves as a community center of support during both good and bad times.

"We’re more than just some place to come and dance," Rue said. "When those super highs are there, people want to gravitate and celebrate at Stonewall because it’s their place to come together. And then when tragedy happens, they want to come and say, ‘Hey, listen. This is a safe place that we can come and grieve and cry together and talk about our own issues together.’"

He said that nationally, the LGBT community is still grieving the lives lost in Florida earlier this year when an Orlando gay club became the target of the deadliest modern mass shooting in American history.

In addition, Rue said, Stonewall’s community is still trying to cope with a new sense of heightened danger after Texas State University student and drag performer Alejandro Camina was assaulted Nov. 14 after leaving the club. Camina said his assailant targeted him for wearing heels and called him an anti-gay slur while beating him.

"Orlando took us down lower than we thought we could ever go," Rue said. "And a week after the presidential election … we have one of our performers and friends, Alex, being attacked on the street and beaten up."

The day after Camina was assaulted, Kennedy, who serves as a mentor to more than a dozen up-and-coming drag performers including Camina, and Rue worked together to host the first of what they decided would become monthly community meetings at Stonewall to discuss safety issues.

Kennedy said the first meeting provided an opportunity for the Stonewall community to organize after President-elect Donald Trump’s Nov. 8 victory, as some fear members of the Trump administration — including officials like Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who has supported anti-LGBT legislation in the past — might try to dismantle LGBT rights.

Kennedy believes people like Camina’s assailant and the group of self-identified Trump supporters who posted racist fliers on the Texas State campus after the election have been directly emboldened by Trump. Kennedy noted that in today’s political climate, marginalized communities are feeling more vulnerable with each day that passes.

"I’m from here, so to not feel safe walking down LBJ half a block to my car really pisses me off," Kennedy said. "I’ve been doing that in drag and out of drag for a long time now, and I haven’t ever felt threatened on the street here, and it really upsets me to feel that way. I don’t want to feel like I have to change into my jeans and sneakers when I leave the club, and I’m not going to."

Despite the present and future challenges the local LGBT community faces, Kennedy said Stonewall has done nothing but strengthen and unite them since the bar opened its doors two years ago.

"A lot of the kids have left home, they don’t have their families here or they’re just coming out or maybe their families aren’t accepting," Kennedy said of Stonewall’s younger crowd. "So it’s important to have that support system, not only among their peers, but to also have some older people who have been through similar things … who can tell them it’s going to be OK. To make them laugh, to give them this outlet to be fabulous, to be confident. None of it would be possible without Stonewall."