Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: Fort Worth police chief shows his homophobia
If you saw Boys Don’t Cry, it’s difficult to forget the scene when Brandon Teena is recounting his rape to the town police. They surround him and the officer asking questions wears the standard shades and talks to Teena as if he is a suspect. The officer’s day has been interrupted and his disdain for Teena can only be missed by those who accept the myth that the police are always your friends.
It should surprise no one that scene came to me when I read about the aftermath of a raid on a Fort Worth, Texas gay bar. On Sunday, the Rainbow Lounge was under siege from Fort Worth police and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. These authorities stormed the establishment, as has been reported by bar patrons, and Chad Gibson continues to be in the hospital with a serious brain injury, an injury caused by either the TABC representatives or Fort Worth officers. How does the city’s police chief Jeff Halstead explain harm coming to a guy who had the nerve to think he could go to a bar and drink without being harassed by arms of the state?
“You’re touched and advanced in certain ways by people inside the bar, that’s offensive,” he said. “I’m happy with the restraint used when they were contacted like that.”
I’ll leave the translation of this line to Dan Savage. He does it better than me. By the way: Halstead’s version of what happened to Gibson has been called a bold face lie by many witnesses.
Apparently someone has informed the chief about the big stinking mess that came out of his mouth and now he is all about reconciliation and community dialogue. Says he will appoint a LGBT liaison and have his officers go through training in how to deal with the gay community (I know a police chief who needs to be sitting in the front of that class). There is also an internal investigation and calls for an independent committee to find out what happened that night.
Hopefully Gibson will pull through this and the residents of Fort Worth will continue to keep the heat on a police chief who sees a brain clot as “restraint.”
PS: RIP Karl Malden.
UPDATE: Gibson was injured while in the custody of TABC agents. Two have been assigned to desk duty pending an investigation.
I would like to suggest to those who are bashing Texas, to read on this website as well as others, about the bashing that is going on in NYC. Ignorance is not bliss . . . especially when you are getting bashed.
The actions of the FW police do not surprise me. If this were to happen in Dallas it would. Dallas has had a full squad of police, that is an all volunteer force, that is assigned to prevent crime in the gay and lesbian areas. The have rigorous training on how to handle all situations in the bars and on the streets. We have had nothing but good encounters with that Dallas police in the Cedar Springs area. I would like to suggest to those not wanting to spend their money in FW to spend it in Dallas instead.
What sucks is that most jobs in my field are in places like Texas, Missouri, Utah. Given a choise I would much prefer to find a job in Cali or Mass. But we have to endure this kind of crap.
It’s time to lawyer up . . .
Sadly, when the state becomes a danger to its citizens, said citizens must use all due force, including deadly, to stop the state.
Put simply, an armed queer doesn’t get bashed.
We had an incident here in Canada back in the early 90’s where a cop tried to harrass and beat a gay man. His partner was armed and when the cop struck his partner several times, the boyfriend shot the cop. The jury acquitted on the grounds that the cop, as a member a representative of the state and having committed harm to a citizen, esentially forteited his life due to his actions.
Not to be simplistic but to quote the graphic novel/film ‘V’, “people should not be afraid of their government, governments should be afraid of their people.”
Here endeth the lesson.
P.S. yes, I am an armed (Video camera in the car, gun where I can reach it) queer who will never permit the state to harm me.
Hi James, I followed through, and decided to cancel my trip, and wrote ALL of the email addresses on Dan Savage’s list of city council people, and the mayor.
Here is the first (and very encouraging) reply:
Thank you for your email concerning the unfortunate incident at the Rainbow Lounge. I have called for a complete and thorough investigation of this matter, and that all findings be formally reported to the full City Council. Our Mayor, with my full endorsement, has asked the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, James T. Jacks, to independently review the findings of the Fort Worth Police Department’s investigation to ensure the department has thoroughly and impartially carried out its obligation to all the citizens of Fort Worth and encouraged the TABC to follow the same course.
Fort Worth has earned its well-established reputation as a community where all people are treated with respect. We pride ourselves on our active practice of the “Golden Rule” because we sincerely believe and adhere to the principles of individual liberty and common courtesy.
I firmly believe that ours is the finest, best-trained professional police department in the world, and any violation of civil rights by any citizen or employee will not be tolerated. Chief Halstead has guaranteed the citizens and Council this investigation will be handled in full compliance with the highest standards of conduct, civil rights and integrity.
I personally assure you that my fellow Council Members and I will insist upon the thorough scrutiny of this incident, and fully evaluate all the facts before issuing any official rulings.
Again, thank you for your inquiry.
Sincerely,
Jungus Jordan
Council Member
City of Fort Worth
District 6
My experience as a long time gay activist is this is not a surprise. If anyone thinks this that police are their friends, they are mistaken. If anyone thinks the police are here to help, they are mistaken. If anyone thinks this is an isolated incident, they are mistaken. If anyone thinks this is just a Texas problem, they are mistaken.
Most police officers are thugs and bullies. They are poorly screened, poorly trained, and poorly supervised. If one wants to see incompetent police work in a major metropolitian area with a significant gay presence, just check out the current NYPD campaign of police harassment and entrapement in adult bookstores, or the Palisades Interstae Park Police persecution of gay men in New Jersey, or bumbling by incompetent local police departments such as the Fair Lawn New Jersey Police Department.
Well that should take a bite out of the Fort Worth Visitors Bureau’s budget for the LGBT tourist. Maybe they should reallocate those funds to something more appropriate for a “world class city” like Fort Worth. Perhaps the KKK or Arian Brotherhood?
I think this matter should be investigated by the FBI and a Sec 1983 Federal Law suit filed against both law enforcement agencies, the city of Fort Worth and the state of Texas for violating the civil rights of these victims: Read violating the 4th ,5th & 6th amendments of the US Constitution, its 14th Amendment Equal Protection, Due Process clauses, the 8th Amendment Cruel and Unusual Punishment, etc., under the color of law.
Is any of this a surprise? Texas was the last state to put us in jail, and they fought for the right to put us in jail, all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. George Bush was the governor of the state then.
We must never ever forget.
As for Texas, let the bigots have it, make it a nice bigot homeland.
The first thing that set off my BS detector was the mention that the bar had only been open for a week. If that’s true, then it would seem strange to have ABC agents come in like this. If they got a tip on underage or after-hours drinking, or drug dealing, they’d send in an undercover agent. Second thing was the balls-out confrontational style. Think it through: police training emphasizes de-escalation over instigating or initiating escalation. When you have cops doin’ a stormtrooper number in a bar, and in a state where people tend to be more fond than average to firearms, you don’t have to be head of your Mensa chapter to see how very wrong that could go. Conflict was the goal, not an accidental product.
Third, when you have the Forth Worth police chief trying to put this on the ABC agents, you know somethin’ ain’t right. It’s sounding like the ABC agents were up for this gung-ho break from their routine, and now they’re getting played by the cops who most likely came up with this foolishness. Notice that the Fort Worth police aren’t saying anything to directly incriminate the ABC agents, but they’re not doing a damn thing to help them either. If the man was with ABC agents when he was injured–hey, it’s their lucky day, and now they have to choose between being thrown under the bus by the FWPD, or explaining just how many ways they violated their own agency’s standards (the cops are there to do the heavy work, remember?). Either way, there’s a good chance it’ll be the ABC agents who lose their jobs, and unlike the cops I don’t believe a Texas state employee has a union to fight for their job.
This seems to be developing a nice stink in Fort Worth (not to mention the rest of the country). It may yet claim a few peoples’ jobs.
Our “fierce advocate” probably doesn’t even know that this has happened. Outside the gay press, it’s local news. Our own institutions are able to handle it anyway.
My father has told me all my life that in his childhood, you could always count on the police to be your friend, but today the police are full of themselves and think that they are an army and the public is the enemy… and that was long before he (or I) knew I was gay.
Unfriggingreal they need to import some gay and lesbian cops to that area and let us have our watering holes!!It really blowz that intolerable cops dont even have the where-with-all to just mozy on PARDNER and let us deal with the mounds of crap we have to muddle thru onna daily with a few buds and brews!Is nothing sacred to these breeders!
Where’s our “fierce advocate”?