JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, the Texas Senate acquits Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton of all corruption charges at his impeachment trial.

Then one year after the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran and the protested spark has light changed for women living under strict Islamic law.

WOMAN: Even though we have learned far away we are still with them with our hearts and with our minds and we are going to keep fighting until the mullahs are gone.

JOHN YANG: And for Hispanic Heritage Month, we look at the life of the nation's first openly gay candidate for public office, Jose Sarria.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening, I'm John Yang.

This afternoon the Republican controlled Texas State Senate voted largely along party lines not to remove embattled State Attorney General Ken Paxton from office.

The Texas House had overwhelmingly voted to impeach him earlier this year.

The Senate sat as a jury in the trial on charges the House had brought and had been deliberating since Friday.

The Senate acquitted Paxton on 16 separate articles of impeachment, including bribery, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and abuse of the public trust.

The charges set on Paxton's relationship with a wealthy donor.

Afterward, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said it was all just politics.

LT. GOV.

DAN PATRICK (R) Texas: Because vote will be the vote you're remembered for most.

Our members already knew that.

I'd have known that for the last three months.

If only the House members who voted for impeachment would have followed that instruction in the House, we may not have been here.

In the House to vote to send the articles of impeachment against the Attorney General to the Senate happened in only a few days, with virtually no time for 150 members to even study the articles.

JOHN YANG: Paxton still faces a trial on felony securities fraud and an FBI investigation.

Austin American-Statesman investigative reporter Tony Plohetski is covering all of this.

Tony, were you surprised by what happened this afternoon?

Or did you expect this?

TONY PLOHETSKI, Austin American-Stateman: We've known from day one that it was going to be a high hurdle to get this impeachment process across the finish line.

And what I mean by that is that we've always assumed that well, Democrats would generally vote in favor of those articles of impeachment.

So when you look at it, it was really a trial for nine Texas senators.

That was the number needed to join with the Democrats to complete the impeachment process and to convict in Paxton on those articles.

So given the fact that it was such a high burden to do that, I think on the ground here in Texas, particularly as we saw politics and the political machinery fire up, I think in many ways, it is not a surprise to see the outcome that we saw this afternoon.

JOHN YANG: This afternoon, Mr. Paxton issued a statement he blamed President Biden and he blamed the Republican Speaker of the Texas House, who he called a liberal for all this saying it's just politics.

But these were serious charges, weren't they?

TONY PLOHETSKI: They were charges that included bribery, misusing his office, and this all dates back to allegations that were brought forward by a whistleblower than the fall of 2020.

People who sat at the right hand of Ken Paxton, top attorneys in his own agency, who share the same Christian conservative values wanted to work side by side with Ken Paxton to push those values and to push that agenda forward.

But again, what we saw in the end is that there is this feeling that House impeachment managers and prosecutors didn't really prove their case in terms of the contention that yes, and Paxton did accept a bribe, he did benefit from helping a wealthy Austin investor who was also one of his campaign contributors.

JOHN YANG: So the evidence just wasn't there during the trial?

TONY PLOHETSKI: That seems to be the contention.

It is noteworthy that as the trial was going on, the senators who were the jurors in this case were prohibited from making public statements.

There was a gag order that had been in place for weeks.

And so now we are going about the process of really getting their feedback, getting their public statement what might they say, with regard to how they voted and why they did or did not vote the way they did.

JOHN YANG: Ken Paxton's influence extends beyond the borders of the state of Texas.

He's been a thorn in the side of Democratic presidents a strong ally of Donald Trump.

How is this going to affect his influence?

How does this affect his standing?

TONY PLOHETSKI: In the minds of many political scientists, this is going to give him Paxton a broad license to double down on some of the deeply Christian conservative far right agenda here in Texas.

But again, beyond and Ken Paxton, speaking to that himself and his statement today, saying that the Biden administration should get ready that he will continue to target their agendas and their policies, taking his work here in Texas, and putting it on a national stage.

JOHN YANG: And politics aside, what's ahead for Ken Paxton, in terms of courtrooms?

TONY PLOHETSKI: Well, certainly for Ken Paxton, this is a joyous day, a monumental day, a day of victory for him.

But as you mentioned, Ken Paxton is far from out of the woods and far from being done in the courtroom.

There are those three state security felony fraud charges that he is still facing that is happening in Houston and a judge in Harris County has said that she wants to try to get this case moving forward.

It goes back eight years.

But in addition to that, we know through our own reporting that there is an ongoing federal investigation into Ken Paxton concerning the same allegations or essentially the same allegations.

And then last but not least, Ken Paxton is the subject of to ongoing complaints by the State Bar of Texas and whether or not he violated the terms of his license, his law license here in the state.

JOHN YANG: Tony Plohetski of the Austin American-Statesman.

Thank you very much.

TONY PLOHETSKI: Thanks for having me.

JOHN YANG: Today's other news what was Hurricane Lee is now a post tropical cyclone.

It's made landfall in Nova Scotia is western coastline.

The 400 mile wide storm grazed New England lashing it with heavy rains strong winds high surf large swells and choppy seas.

Hundreds of thousands are without power in both the United States and Canada, as falling trees and tree limbs took out powerlines.

Storm is forecast to steadily weaken tomorrow as it moves inland over Canada and diminish on Monday.

Negotiators for the UAW and the Big Three automakers were back at the bargaining table today.

One day after thousands of auto workers struck three plants in Missouri, Ohio and Michigan.

Ford is blamed to strike for 600 temporary layoffs of non-striking workers.

GM said it could begin laying off thousands of workers as soon as next week.

In a statement today, UAW president Shawn Fain said the layoffs were a tactic that won't work.

Libya's government is investigating the collapse of the two dams that triggered devastating floods earlier this week, killing more than 11,000 people.

Six days later, rescue teams are still searching for bodies.

There are estimates that more than 10,000 people are still missing.

And North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made nonstop today at the Russian port city of Vladivostok fewer than 100 miles from the North Korean border.

It's part of his visit to Russia, which included in meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

Kim inspected Russian weapons including hypersonic missiles and bombers capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.

The visit has raised Western concerns about our Russia North Korean arms deal.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, what's changed for women In Iran one year after sweeping protests followed the death of Mahsa Amini, and the story of a man who paved the way for gay political candidates in America.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: It is one year to the day since a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini died in a hospital days after the morality police arrested her in Tehran.

They said she had violated Iran's Islamic dress code that requires women to wear a headscarf or hijab and cover themselves in loose full length clothing.

Penalties for disregarding that include a fine, prison or flogging.

Her death sparked months of protest Iran's biggest mass demonstrations against its clerical rulers in years.

Around the world today, demonstrators marched in solidarity to mark the anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death.

In London there were calls for an end to Iran strict Islamic rule.

MANSOUR ZADSHIR, Protester: The regime is really brutal.

So the old party if it takes one year, two year, 120 years doesn't matter.

We never stopped.

JOHN YANG: In Berlin calls for another Iranian revolution, this one to depose the religious leaders who seized power in 1979.

But in Iran a much different picture.

A heavy security presence sought to prevent a resurgence of last year's protest triggered by the death of Amini.

The 22-year-old woman who was from a small city in northwestern Iran, a member of the oppressed Kurdish ethnic minority.

She died while in government detention.

Iranian officials still deny it was a result of being beaten.

Amini's death unleashed decades of pent up anger in Iran's clerical rulers and their denial of social and political freedoms.

Women led the protest fed up with the restraint strict Islamic law puts on them, including telling them how to dress.

Their protest mushroomed into a global movement.

Women cut their hair to show solidarity, their rallying cry -- women, life, freedom.

ABIR AL-SAHLANI, European Parliament: Until the woman of Iran up, we are going to stand with you.

Women, life, freedom.

JOHN YANG: In Iran, authorities responded with a brutal crackdown.

More than 22,000 people were detained.

More than 500 were killed and violent clashes with security forces.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said it was all a Western plot.

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, Supreme Leader, Iran (through translator): I say clearly that these riots and insecurities were designed by America.

They have sat down and planned this.

They have planned this.

JOHN YANG: A year later, the mandatory hijab law is still in place and authorities want to stiffen the penalties to up to 10 years in prison.

And the morality police after apparently being disbanded resumed patrolling this summer.

But on the streets of Tehran, more women young and old are defiantly going without the hijab.

WOMAN (through translator): Do you think the morality police can prevent women from not wearing a hijab?

They can't impose it like before.

The number of people who don't obey is too high now.

They can't handle all of us.

JOHN YANG: And Mahsa Amini's name lives on.

This Kurdish family name their new daughter, Jina, Amini's Kurdish name which means life.

BUTAN IBRAHIM GILO, Father of Jina (through translator): This name is sacred because she is a sacred personality.

We chose this name so that in the future my daughter knows that it's not an ordinary name, and not for an ordinary person, but for an exceptional, indifferent person.

JOHN YANG: A symbol of hope for women who want a better future.

This week, President Biden announced new sanctions on Iran.

In a statement he said in the face of continued oppression and violence the citizens of Iran remain committed to this movement and to their fight for a free and democratic future.

Iranians alone will determine the fate of their country.

But the United States remains committed to standing with them.

To explore this further Nazanin Boniadi, she's a Iranian born human rights activist and ambassador for Amnesty International UK.

She's also an actor who's appeared in many popular movies and television shows.

Thank you for being with us.

This protest or this movement began obviously over the hijab law but hasn't become bigger than that has encompass more issues than that?

NAZANIN BONIADI, Actress and Activist: Thanks for having me John.

Yes, the shorts of it is yes.

You know, Mahsa Jina Amini was not just a young woman.

She was a Kurd and a Sunni.

She was a member of religious and minority ethnic groups.

So what her death did and by the way, she was just a normal woman.

She was just an everyday woman living her life.

She wasn't killed for anything, but just expressing herself freely and living her life normally, just for wearing her hijab inappropriately, quote unquote.

And so she really became a symbol of the antithesis of a male Shia geriatric intolerant ruling elite in Iran, and it galvanized Iranian society at large to stand for democracy and freedom.

JOHN YANG: We saw the tape women going without the hijab, but also the morality police back on the streets patrolling.

Has anything changed at all in the past year?

NAZANIN BONIADI: You know, we're not seeing the same numbers on the streets.

But the revolution is very much alive in the hearts and the minds of the Iranian people.

And Iranian society will never be the same again, hundreds of thousands of Iranian women are currently on the streets of Iran every day and major Iranian cities, flouting the compulsory hijab law.

And there are micro protests, you know, around Gen Z to doing things like rollerskating on the streets of Iran to Abba to inject society with joy, because joy is a crime in Iran, women can't dance in public, they can't sing solo in public, they can't ride a bicycle.

They have to sit at the back of the bus.

This is about far more than compulsory hijab.

And it's become about far more than just women's rights.

JOHN YANG: Mahsa's father was detained in the past couple of days.

And before he was released, he was warned not to do anything today to commemorate his daughter's death.

What's life like for Iranians who are fighting the clerical rule, and clerical rulers who make it clear they will not put up with any dissent?

NAZANIN BONIADI: And one word dangerous.

I mean, these families have been harassed, intimidated, silenced, imprisoned, killed, simply for demanding justice for their loved ones.

You know, there's a young child, a nine-year-old Kian Pufalak (ph), who was killed with bullets while the protests were happening.

And his mother who's seeking justice when is trying very hard to hold the Iranian regime to account and actually sued the government.

They stopped them from commemorating their loved ones.

They actually killed the mother's cousin, while he was commemorating the death of young Kian.

So this is the type of thing that they're dealing with.

And his mother is now under house arrest.

JOHN YANG: Today obviously Mahsa's front of mine the anniversary of her death.

Do you worry that in the other string 364 days, her memory will recede?

And maybe the issue will recede and in a lot of people's minds in the West?

NAZANIN BONIADI: I'm very worried about that.

Today, as you said as the anniversary of her death and we're seeing protests across the world.

There is an epitaph on Mahsa Jina Amini's grave that says your name will become our code.

And it did because her, you know, her legacy is one of fighting for a normal life, which is the middle slogan of woman, life, freedom.

We can't forget that woman, women's rights is just one pillar of what they're fighting for.

The other two being a normal life, the right to live your life in a -- just a free way and freedom being the last word in this slogan.

And those two last words apply to all Iranians.

So this has really captured the national aspiration.

Now men are standing with women and actually more young men have been killed in the past year than women.

But that shows the solidarity, something that really strikes fear into this misogynistic and patriarchal regime.

JOHN YANG: We heard in the statement that I read earlier that President Biden said that this is up to the Iranians.

This is the Iranians struggle and fight.

But we're standing with them.

The United States stands with them.

Is the West doing enough to support this do you think?

NAZANIN BONIADI: In short no.

It's great words are great.

But what we need is action.

And there are a number of ways we can do that.

We haven't ever been ready for the next uprising.

But Iranians have risen up multiple times in the past 44 years.

And every time there's now an internet shutdown, blackout, there are -- there's mass brutality and a crackdown on the protesters.

And what we have to do is be prepared for the next time there will be a next time.

The time between the ebbs and flows of these protests are getting shorter, and hopefully the regime will be no longer but the Iranian people need us to ensure they have internet access to ensure that there's the propaganda that these dictators in unison, Russia, China, Iran spew and spend a lot of money on propaganda and cyber armies.

We just don't have the same capacity and capability and funding to counter that propaganda.

JOHN YANG: You said earlier you thought Iranian society will never be the same.

But we've also seen the leadership crackdown harder and harder.

Are you optimistic that things will change and change soon?

NAZANIN BONIADI: You know, it's hard to predict how long this is going to take but I think it is, it's very clear.

This is the twilight of the regime.

The Supreme Leader is the oldest dictator and the longest dictator holding power in today's world and his death it will happen anytime soon.

He's very sick.

He's got cancer.

And what happens the day after is when we have to watch this space.

And in the meantime, we cannot allow that vacuum to be filled with more oppression.

We have to ensure that we're empowering dissident voices, opposition voices, we need a unified opposition but we also need a multinational approach to Iran.

We need an American leadership on Iran and hopefully bipartisan support for the Iranian people.

JOHN YANG: Nazanin Boniadi, thank you very much.

NAZANIN BONIADI: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: For the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, we return to our series hidden histories.

Tonight we look at the legacy of a Latino American political activist and drag performer who left his mark on U.S. history by paving the way for gay candidates.

JOSE SARRIA, Latino American Drag Performer And Political Activist: United we stand divided they'll catch us one by one.

JOHN YANG: Jose Sarria lid by those words throughout his life as a legendary drag performer, a gay rights activist and the nation's first known openly gay candidate for public office.

He was born in San Francisco in 1922, the only child of a single mother from Colombia.

She allowed them to dress as he pleased even going with him when he went to dances in women's clothing.

Sarria's goal of teaching was put on hold with the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

He left school and enlisted in the Army, convincing the recruiter to overlook the fact that at five feet he didn't meet the minimum height requirement.

In the army, he faced two obstacles.

Openly gay people were barred from serving and he was the only Latina ex-soldier in an all white unit.

But he found respect and status as the orderly for a major who later was a colonel.

Sarria was promoted to staff sergeant and followed the officer to the European theater and the Battle of the Bulge.

After the German surrender, he went with the colonel to Berlin, where he found a revitalized queer scene flourishing free from Nazi persecution.

When Sarria, who was honorably discharged from the army in 1947, he went back to San Francisco eager to use his GI Bill benefits to become a teacher, but undercover officers arrested him for solicitation.

To avoid publicity he pleaded guilty, only to learn later that it disqualified him from teaching.

He went to work as a waiter and host at the Black Cat Cafe, a longtime bohemian hangout with a growing gay clientele.

With began as an occasional song with the lounge pianist became regularly singing opera parodies and performing and drag.

He became the club's star act bill is the nightingale of Montgomery Street.

He infused his performances with biting political commentary.

In 1955, San Francisco crackdown on LGBTQ plus establishments sending undercover police to look for reasons to shut them down and arrest patrons and performers.

The harassment moves sorry to run for the City Board of Supervisors, neither party would endorse him but after threatening to sue, he got on the ballot as a Democrat, the nation's first known openly gay candidate.

JOSE SARRIA: My fellow citizens of San Francisco.

Tonight, I would like to explain my platform equality before the law.

JOHN YANG: Sarria lost but his campaign awakened the city's gay community to its political potential, paving the way for his friend Harvey Milk 16 years later to become one of the nation's first openly gay elected officials.

For the rest of his life, Saria remained an important figure in San Francisco's queer community.

In 1965, he founded the imperial court system, regarded as the oldest global LGBTQ plus charitable organization, raising money to fight AIDS, breast cancer, domestic abuse and homelessness.

Sarria died from cancer in 2013.

He was 90 years old.

Today, his legacy lives on through the Jose Saria Foundation dedicated to preserving artifacts of queer history.

His induction last month into the California Hall of Fame and the thousands of LGBTQ plus candidates who followed in his footsteps.

And there was always more online like this story about how an Iranian American ballerina uses dancing as a way to highlight social injustice is in her family's homeland.

All that and more is on our website pbs.org/news hour.

And that is PBS News Weekend for this Saturday.

On Sunday, with autumn approaching the effect climate change has on the timing and intensity of fall foliage.

I'm John Yang.

For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.

See you tomorrow.