By Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend
Is this what the police in Fort Worth, TX call "Stonewall Commemoration"? A gay club called the Rainbow Lounge opened in the city and Todd Camp, the founder of Q Cinema and former reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, was celebrating his birthday at the club and two Stonewall docs were being screened.
That evening the Fort Worth Police decided to pay a visit and re-enact good-old-fashioned "law enforcement." Camp told the local LGBT news outlet The Dallas Voice about the incident: Photo of police pinning a patron to the ground. (by Chuck Potter via The Dallas Voice).
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Further Coverage:
* MSM coverage by The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
* Report by The Dallas Observer
* Also see TruthandLove's diary - it has plenty of links.
* DKos: Breaking: Raid on Fort Worth Gay Bar
* There is also a Facebook page
Is this what the police in Fort Worth, TX call "Stonewall Commemoration"? A gay club called the Rainbow Lounge opened in the city and Todd Camp, the founder of Q Cinema and former reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, was celebrating his birthday at the club and two Stonewall docs were being screened.That evening the Fort Worth Police decided to pay a visit and re-enact good-old-fashioned "law enforcement." Camp told the local LGBT news outlet The Dallas Voice about the incident: Photo of police pinning a patron to the ground. (by Chuck Potter via The Dallas Voice).
The not awesome thing was the paddy wagon of homophobic police that showed up ... looking for trouble. My group and I were sitting on the back patio at a picnic table. Nobody was being wild out there. [The police] came through with flashlights, being loud asking what was going on out here, then asked why everyone was all the sudden being quiet. When one group started up their conversations again, they took one guy away. I left shortly after and as I walked through the front bar there were numerous cops with plastic handcuffs all ready to go. I [left] the bar and they [had] a big van in the parking lot and numerous cars on the street. And just so you know, it wasn't fire hazard crowded or seedy wild in there. ... The worst part is [friends later told me] that [the police] had numerous people face down on the ground outside. I just moved to Fort Worth from Dallas, so this is such a shock to me. I know Dallas would not put up with this...I am still so shocked it is 2009 and this just happened.An eyewitness said that she was initially pleased to see the police, thinking they were there to protect patrons since the bar was in a rough part of town. That quickly changed.
She asked why they were there and he said a disgruntled employee had said that the bar was overserving people. She told him she had been drinking but that she had a designated driver. He told her that she was fine. She said they only arrested men and seemed to be targeting effeminate men.Another patron, Chad Gibson, was slammed to the floor by the cops and his sister reported to the Voice that he was hospitalized and has bleeding in his brain. And what does the police department have to say about this incident?
The statement also said that "an extremely intoxicated patron made sexually explicit movements toward the police supervisor" and that person was arrested for public intoxication.Eyewitnesses, not surprisingly, viewed that interpretation of events quite differently, saying Gibson weighed "maybe 160 pounds soaking wet" and didn't resist, but stumbled when one officer grabbed him by the arm. And about those sexual gestures and provocations?
...A second "intoxicated individual" [referring to Chad Gibson] was arrested for public intoxication after making "sexually explicit movements towards another officer," and a third person assaulted a TABC agent by grabbing his groin. That man was escorted outside and arrested for public intoxication, but was released to paramedics because of his "extreme intoxication" and the fact that he was vomiting repeatedly.
The statement said that while some officers were outside dealing with the vomiting suspect, another officer inside requested assistance in handling an intoxicated patron who was resisting arrest, and that this person was "placed on the ground to control and apprehend him."
Rainbow Lounge owner J.R. Schrock said claims that patrons made sexual advances to the officers and that one patron groped an officer were lies.A rally was held yesterday at the Tarrant County Courthouse. Click over to the Voice to see the photos. Thanks to the numerous Blenders who sent tips in about this incident.
"The groping of the police officer - really? We're gay, but we're not dumb," Schrock said to the crowd that gathered at the bar Sunday afternoon. "That is a lie, and I am appalled by it.
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Further Coverage:
* MSM coverage by The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
* Report by The Dallas Observer
* Also see TruthandLove's diary - it has plenty of links.
* DKos: Breaking: Raid on Fort Worth Gay Bar
* There is also a Facebook page
If you want equal rights you must expect force when you grab any officers groin!!! I think it is an exemption you want because of your life style.
June 29, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply
This incident is like a visible lesion. A sign of a sub-dermal cancer that is endemic of FWPD's intolerance of residents' alternative sexual orientation. The Chief himself is to blame for letting this cancer grow unchecked to the point that it manifested itself in a planned raid scheduled to coincide on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion.
I don't live in FW but I hope they demand the Chief's resignation, the firing of all bad cops involved in this travesty of law enforcement, the establishment of a GLBT community liaison like we have in Dallas, and proper screening of intolerant Police Academy applicants among other necessary reforms.
July 1, 2009 12:45 AM | Reply
wow. i can't believe that after everything that the gay community has been through there is still that this type of ignorant commenting is still acceptable. this is texas after all. i'm astonished, embarrassed & insulted. not as a homosexual man, but as a human being. an advance is absolutely NO EXCUSE for what those cowards did to that man. there is never any excuse for anybody ever injuring another human being to that degree. i'm sorry, but i seriously think that folks like this should be sterilized so they can stop adding to the problem & start becoming part of the solution.
July 1, 2009 3:27 PM | Reply
We desperately need to work with these libertarians to relocate and gain a majority in a small suburb like Annetta South or Garrett.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LibertyDistricts_USA/
July 2, 2009 8:32 PM | Reply
This sounds a bit inflamed (no pun intended) and over-spun. Something the left has overused to extreme. So much so, that we (the general public) tend to not believe them any more. Which is sad, of course if this was a real incident.
I mean what cop would be stupid enough to do as they are accused in uniform, especially in today's political and economic climate. Thanks obamacorn. If they were that horribly homophobic, they could do things that would not cause them to lose their job, if they so desired. With unemployment the highest it has ever been, no one has the luxary of doing something that would get them fired. Even the most dimwitted person would recognize this as some kind of 'baiting' to create news that just was not there.
Besides the fact that the Dallas-fort worth area has a very pro-gay community accross the board. Dallas is home to the largest gay and lesbian church in the nation, The Cathedral of Hope. The church and it's members are looked upon favorably by the entire community.
I also happen to know that there are several officers on the force that are gay or lesbian, and this kind of accusation and lie really hurts that community more than you know.
July 7, 2009 1:48 PM | Reply
What can you say? that this is still happening in a so called "enlightened" society is very very sad. A gay bar/club should be a place where gay people can feel safe and be themselves. Instead, it's invaded by homophobic bullies wearing a badge with concocted accusations. Where is the public outcry? Doesn't anyone care anymore?
December 27, 2009 12:00 AM | Reply