Steers, Queers & Republican Law in Texas

Standing as arguably one of the most conservative states in the nation, Texas is known for cattle and Republicans.  After the incident at the Rainbow Lounge, they’re know for having some gay folk too…at least in the Fort Worth area.

After the fact, the Fort Worth council decided it may be time take a step in the right direction and update their anti-discrimination laws to include LGBT citizens.

But holding strong to those good Republican values,  some Texans aren’ t going to let that happen without…at least without raising a ruckus about it!

According to a post on WFAA.com, when the city council convened to discuss include LGBT citizens under the current laws, a group of concerned Republicans showed up in protest.  Below is an excerpt from that post.

Members of the Tarrant County Republican Party and other conservatives say the city of Fort Worth is headed in the wrong direction.

“I’m not sure that providing a benefit for sex change operations or providing a domestic partner benefit, I’m not really sure that that fixes what happened at the Rainbow Lounge,” said Stephanie Klick, the chairperson for the Tarrant County Republican Party.

Klick said the changes to prevent discrimination amongst the gay, lesbian and transgender community in housing, employment and public accommodation is too broad. Her other concern, she said, is that the city can’t afford to extend domestic partner benefits.

“We have a budget process that has already eliminated jobs and now we’re going on a spending spree,” she said.

Also in the post, a Pastor by the name of Joey Faust, “organized a group of preachers to hold signs and minister against homosexuality.”

Faust stated, “Because of the particular group that got targeted and the political correct society we live in, many end up suffering for simply doing their job.”

So there you have it…Texas Republican views in a nutshell. One, they ain’t got the need for and can’t afford to be payin’ for benefits for no gays, and two, they can’t be runnin’ round gettin’ all mad at people for beatin’ them gays over the head.

I would like to ask Stephanie Click, since the budget is so tight, is she willing to give up her health insurance to help alleviate any budget shortfalls? I would also like to ask Pastor Faust, if fellow preachers were arrested and beaten, simply for being pastors, how would that set?

If the Republicans would stop hiding behind the Bible, and the budget, and just come out and say they hate gays, I would almost have more respect for them. But instead, they choose to use the most ignorant of defenses for their bigotry.

But, going against the conservative voices, and evidently the “law”, the Fort Worth City Council voted 6-3 late Tuesday to expand its anti-discrimination ordinance to include LGBT citizens.

But again, not without a show of disapproval. One Republican demonstrated clearly, they simply don’t understand the concept of separation of church and state, claiming the word of the Bible is the “law”.

According to a post on Star-Telegram:

Ron Armstrong stood on top of his Bible in front of City Hall to symbolize that he was “standing on the word of God.”

“The law says clearly no man is supposed to lie with a man the way he lies with a woman,” he said.

So, there you have it…the Bible IS the law in Texas! I guess the Wal-Mart better watch out, I’m sure they have poly-cotton blend clothes for sale…and if you work at the Red Lobster…time to find another job!

In Light of TABC Report, Raid at Fort Worth Gay Bar Looks Uglier

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission allows that its agents committed more than a half-dozen potentially fireable offenses during the June raid on a Cowtown gay bar – and the agency hasn’t even addressed the part about how one patron got his noggin busted.

This is not looking good for anybody who still maintains that the joint TABC-Fort Worth police operation was all about protecting and serving.

Instead, the findings to date lend credence to the unhappy suspicion that a bunch of geeked-up lawmen thought it might be good fun to roust a bunch of gay people.

Maybe I’m wrong. I tend to react with initial skepticism when people claim to have been targeted because they’re minorities or gay or immigrants or what-have-you. Hey, it’s 2009!

Read the rest at: Dallas News

City Council Requests Federal Investigation

From 365gay.com:

The Fort Worth City Council has asked for a federal investigation to be made into the June police raid at the Rainbow Lounge gay bar. This would be the fourth inquiry made into the bar raid that sent one man to the hospital with a brain injury.

Council members explained that the federal investigation would reaffirm information found from inquiries made by the Fort Worth police department.

“We want to be able to assure people that this is a thorough and accurate investigation, and that’s part of the reason we’re taking the actions here,” City Council member Joel Burns said.

Two investigations have been made by the Fort Worth Police Department into the incident. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is also investigating two of their officers involved in the raid.

The request for a federal investigation came several hours before Fort Worth officials released personal records for five of the seven officers involved in the raid. The records showed that Officer Jason R. Ricks, one of the officers involved in the raid, has had a history of misconduct.

Ricks has been arrested in the past by New Braunfels police after he punched a bus driver in the face in July of 2006. Ricks was off duty and had been drinking for a couple hours when the fight occurred. Ricks was disciplined several other times during 2006.

Captain W.A. Read, one of Ricks’s supervisors, wrote in a September 2006 letter that Ricks had “shown a history of poor decisions and bad judgment” and added that another lieutenant “has put forth a valid argument that Officer Ricks does not show the maturity level that is required of a Fort Worth police officer.”

Mayor Mike Moncrief supports the City Council’s request for a federal investigation as well as the Fort Worth Police Department.

“I am very pleased with the way the Police Department’s investigation is progressing,” he said. “I continue to be very confident in Chief [Jeff] Halstead and our department that they will resolve this issue in an open, timely and unbiased manner.”

TABC Administrator Acknowledges Violated Policies in Raid

The administrator of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said this week that two TABC agents involved in a raid of the Rainbow Lounge on June 28 committed multiple clear violations of agency policy.

In an exclusive phone interview with Dallas Voice on Wednesday, July 15, TABC Administrator Alan Steen also said the supervisor directly responsible for the two agents — a sergeant in TABC’s Fort Worth district office — announced his retirement last week in the wake of the raid and amid an ongoing internal investigation. Steen didn’t identify the sergeant or the agents by name.

“I don’t think you have to dig very deep to figure out that TABC has violated some of their policies,” Steen said. “We know that, and I apologize for that. Like I said in my original press release, we have in the past and we will in the future act very swiftly in making sure that those issues are corrected. It’s real clear that however it is that we were doing business that night is not the typical TABC. … I have good policy in place, I have good training in place, and I have good supervision in place to ensure that things like this don’t happen.”

Read the rest at The Dallas Voice!

Fort Worth Mayor Apologizes for Raid

Yesterday, Mike Moncrief the mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, publicly apologized for a raid on the Rainbow Lounge, a gay bar in Fort Worth. The raid has been at the center of controversy as many patrons who were at the bar during the raid have made claims of brutality and procedure violations. The raid left one man hospitalized with a serious head injury.

Approximately 250 people filled the council chambers yesterday as an about 150 others viewed the meeting on televisions in the hallway as city officials discussed the raid held by the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission in conjunction with the Fort Worth Police Department at the Rainbow Lounge.

Mayor Moncrief told attendees of the meeting that neither the TABC nor the Fort Worth police had finished investigations into the raid. Initially both the TABC and the FWPD claimed this was not a “raid”, but rather a a “routine license inspection.” However, as noted by many, a “routine inspection” should not require a force compiled of both TABC agents and police officers.

The mayor stated he has asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to review the department’s findings, but someone in the attending crowd shouted out a request for an apology, to which the Mayor stated:

“If you want an apology from the mayor of Fort Worth: I am sorry about what happened in Fort Worth.”

Two of the city’s council members have called for independent investigations into the raid, which is viewed as necessary being neither the TABC or police would be able to give an accurate account of what happened without jeopardizing their reputations. Anyone familiar with states that have an ABC that includes officers who go out on “inspections” know they have open ticket to do whatever they want, typically without the threat of recourse, mostly because any hearings conducted about TABC actions are presided over by a “judge” who is also an employee of the state’s ABC.

According to reports, Tom Anable, a man at the bar during the raid, told coucilmembers that on the night of the raid he saw an agent slam one man into a pool table after the man said he was drinking water and shouldn’t be arrested. Anable also stated he witnessed a TABC agent slam 26 year-old Chad Gibson, into a wall. Gibson was later hospitalized with a serious head injury. The agent claimed that Gibson “groped” him but Anable disputes that claim as false.

Another patron, Sarah Bryant had to fight back tears as she spoke to the council. Bryant stated she had seen fights at bars before, but this, “was the first time that I was really afraid of the police.”

Earlier yesterday, Fort Worth Police Chief, Jeff Halstead stated he has appointed Officer Sara Straten as a liaison to the city’s LGBT community with hopes of overcoming the crisis and to prevent any lack of communication in the future.

Next Page »