Great that the Times has picked this upThe more media light that gets shined on this, the harder it will be for them to hide.  And the Times has a BIG light.

Chad Gibson Not the Only One InjuredAccording to the NYT article,

“Another patron suffered broken ribs, and a third had a broken thumb, said Todd Camp, the founder and artistic director of Q. Cinema, a gay film festival in Fort Worth.”

Five people were charged with public drunkenness and three of them have broken bones? WTF? Isn’t it obvious there were some homophobes amongst those Forth-Worth pigs?
Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be a rather marked increase in gay bashings this year? Is that what Janet Napolitano was illuding to in that report?
Oh, so many questions – so much rage.

The phone number to the Forth-Worth PD is (817) 392-4000. Call them ask why they broke the bones of three citizens.

I can’t post anythingJake Goad mentioned something on another thread about going to the “Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen” in NC and I got insanely jealous and hungry for some biscuits and gravy.
And yes there is a marked increase not only in gay bashings but also homophobic police actions?

Why?Is it the progress we have made in New England & Iowa, the visibility we gained from the Prop 8 protests, the “inclusion” in the White House, what? Or is it just that the fundies are really pissed becuase they are no longer in power? Or all of these things?
This really has me riled up today!!

We continue our strugglePlease show your support for the people of Fort Worth and DFW area by joining the Facebook group.  http://www.facebook.com/group….
We are planning more events.
Tonight Queer Liberaction is having one of their “Milk Box” events at 7:00 in Sundance Square in Fort Worth.
Next week we will protest again.  
On the 14th several of us plan to attend the city council meeting.
If you can do nothing but show support on facebook it will be appreciated.  There are other ways to show support as well, by helping Chad to pay his hospital bills.
Thanks
Marlin Bynum

pigs.
A friend of mine wrangled a series of ride-alongs with NYPD back in the 70′s, as an NYU film student. He was personally in attendance at the bust of a gay bar on West Street late one night. He said he heard the call go out on the radio, and literally HUNDREDS of cops answered it, from as far away as Flushing, like twenty miles away in Queens. There was a special radio code for a raid on a gay bar.
My friend said there was really nothing going on at the bar, but the cops were busting heads and arresting everyone anyway. And this was after Stonewall. Cops from all over the City wanted in on the gay-bashing. Boners were in evidence. Well, not OFFICIAL evidence.
My friend was extremely straight, but even he was sickened by it, and thought it was unbelievably creepy. It’s the modern day version of Jim Crow, in many ways, with a violent sexual twist. I hope Holder’s Justice Dept investigates this incident in Redneckia. Any push for that? Hope the poor guy is OK.
.

Why?“Why”?  That’s kind of a bizarre thing to say…

WTF!
The more things change the more they stay the same it seems.
I hope they nail these bastards to the wall for what they did!

WTFWhy do they go into bars looking for drunk people? Is it some peculiar Texas law?

YesIt is illegal to be drunk in a bar in Texas because there is a possibility you might get in a car and drive. Seriously that is the basis for the law. You are doing something that is legal (though regulated) but might do something illegal. <rolls eyes> Nevermind the “drunk” person might have a designated driver or is walking home or simply going upstairs (they’ve had these type of raids before in hotel bars where the people in the bar are staying in the hotel). It has been a very controversial law and this incident is just the latest chapter in the continuing sad saga of the law. The Neo-Prohibitionists known as MADD (Mothers Maniacs Against Drunk Driving) have a lot of sway in the Texas Legislature and as a result we have some of the most *$%^&ed alcohol laws in the country.
p.s. Before I get accused of being a drunken beer belly bar hopper that thinks I ought to be able to buy liquor at the McDonald’s drive through, I’m practically a teetotaler that doesn’t touch beer and has maybe a single glass of wine very infrequently, usually only on special occasions.  

The cops involved were not regular copsThey were TABC officers, whose job is to enforce the extremely byzantine and bizarre alcohol laws in Texas.

All of that and…Radical Evangelical Christians have infiltrated police agencies all over the country.
They were allowed to set up shop in our military and thousands of former military men and women who were prostilized while serving are now police officers.
They actually joined police agencies to fight “evil” such as homosexuality. They follow God’s law, not the law of the state.

MADDThey were very good to me when my BF was killed by a drunk driver. They considered me to be a victim family member even though we were a gay couple — this was decades ago. So, they were very progressive on that front.
Just another perspective.

Fantastic!We are proud of Ft Worth’s LGBT community standing up!!!
Keep it up.

A very frustrated Right is coming after uswhenever and wherever they can.
Expect more.

From Real Time recently
Most police agencies offer a placement preference to military veterans. A large number of police officers are veterans and many of them are part of this Evangelical movement.

You have to understand in Texas……most of them are moralizing conservative Southern Baptist teetotalers that see it as their job to save everyone and help make them find Jesus. I know there are many MADD members who are not like that, but the ones that tend to be the most committed and rise to leadership roles here are the kinds that want to impose their moral view of the world on everyone else.
I’m glad you had a good experience with them, because from what I’ve seen in Texas politics of them and the two personal experiences that I have had with them (once in college as a designated driver for my friends and once when they were going door to door getting petition signatures to close bars in the city at 10pm instead of 2am) have not been good. On the later, they literally believed that by closing the bars at 10pm instead of 2am that people would go home to be with their family instead of (intoxicatedly) driving <3 miles south across the city limits into Austin where the bars would still be open and  drinking more until 2am. The notion of clearing the bars at 10pm when more people are likely to be driving compared to 2am was frightening enough but the fairy tale belief that they could save families by closing bars earlier was just too much. Thankfully they failed in their attempt at that law.
I think that the way that organizations like MADD have made alcohol a forbidden fruit is one of the reasons we have binge drinking problems in colleges and universities. Rather than emphasizing and teaching responsible drinking habits, all of the money goes to punishing those that don’t drink responsibly.  

Why?I mean what is causing the increase in violence in recent weeks?

You probably know this, but…until a few months ago, San Marcos closed its bars at midnight.  That created a situation where college kids would drink until midnight, drive drunk to Austin to go to the late-night bars, then drive back even more drunk.  I’m thankful for the decision they made to keep the bars open until 2.
Agree that everyone needs more education on drinking responsibly rather than just being told not to do it.  It’s kind of like sex ed that way.

That’s too badI know MADD started in California. I met Candy Lightner, the woman who founded the organization many years ago. I actually spoke at a few MADD events about my experience. That seems like a very long time ago.
I guess MADD in Texas is a reflection of local politics.

Same as sex & unwanted pregnanciesInstead of teaching responsibility thru practical sex-ed and birth control, they shoot everything down in favor of abstaining from sex (ie teetotaling) and we all know the effects of that are increased STDs and pregnancies (not to mention the teenage girls who get kicked out of their fundie family homes and into the streets).

How to you know this?I haven’t seen anything yet (other than heresay) that says which officers were involved in the brutality.

I read the same thing when this first happened.But it’s also mentioned in the NYT article.

Alan Steen, the administrator of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, has put two officers involved in the raid on desk duty and said an inquiry would be conducted.

TWO GOOD notes…..This is way better than it sounded last week: Someone woke up.

Fort Worth’s police chief, Jeffrey W. Halstead, initially stood behind his officers, saying Monday that patrons had provoked the scuffle by making sexual gestures toward officers.
But as the week went on, Chief Halstead backed away from that stance. By Thursday, he had ordered an inquiry, suspended operations with the state beverage commission and promised to give police officers “multicultural training.” He declined a request for an interview.

…..also.

They have organized protests and formed a new organization, Fairness Fort Worth, to keep track of various investigations into the incident that have begun or been requested. They also have taken up collections and organized a benefit concert to help the injured.
“It has brought this community together so tight – it’s almost impermeable now,” said Randy Norman, the manager of the lounge.

As it should be. Stand together and take care of your own.
Go  Fairness Fort Worth.

Sounds like illegal search and seizure, hate crimes committed by LEOsI hope the US Attorney Generals office gets involved in this case and that the victims sue that city for all its Worth.

YepVoters in Lubbock County also finally went completely wet ending their awkward ban on canned and bottles alcohol sales (while allowing by the drink sales in private club establishments). The measure also allowed the sale of mix drinks in non-private clubs. They finally figured out that having all the liquor stores out of town on “the Strip,” forcing people to drive a long ways out there and back to buy beer and wine wasn’t a good idea for discouraging drinking & driving.

I agreeThe whole abstinence only education of sex is a very good analogy. Denying people the facts and ignoring the teaching of responsibility in the name of protecting morals has led to more moral decline that it has prevented. We need more and better comprehensive and common sense education on alcohol, drugs, sex, STDs and pregnancy. If you look at the places that have the least of that (the South) you also have the highest rates of teen pregnancy and alcohol abuse.

Fritz,You are right on the money.  
It all starts in the military.  The church is the easiest thing to find on a military base, it’s right at the entrance of the San Diego Naval base.  
That’s our tax dollars at work!
If not the military, they still have the same upbringing.. they still become cops in order to uphold christian morals on all the heathens.  
Not to mention that god complex.

Keep up the Pressure MarlinYou’ve got lots of us across the country who are supporting you. I’ve called many local pols and the PD in Fort Worth to complain that the officers should be suspended and invited all my facebook peeps to join your group.
Great effort – you are visible.

But it doesn’t saythat they were the only officers responsible.

Both FWPD and TABCofficers were involved.  There were two TABC officers, a supervisor and I think six FWPD officers involved.  As I understand these “inspections”, it is usual to have the local law enforcement along, because the offender(s) will be kept in local facilities.

Paramilitary police agenciesI dated a sheriff’s deputy many years ago and one of the things he spoke about was how many police agencies are “paramilitary” or operate using a military style command structure.
He didn’t want to work for a police agency that was run on a military model. The sheriff’s department that he worked for wasn’t.
He said that the paramilitary departments attract “crazies” and he didn’t want to work in that kind of environment.
It would be interesting to know how this Fort Worth police department is structured.

My ex-brother-in-lawused to drive around San Antonio swilling beer with the kids in the car.  I have this from my daughter, who spent her childhood summers at my sister’s when my mom lived with her.  Texas is not interested in preventing DUIs.  This was a purely anti-gay action (and I’m a 56-year-old straight)

Ft. Worth Star Telegram Coverage–EditorialPlease, *please* provide in your links to the coverage by the Ft. Worth Star Telegram a link to the following editorial:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2…
It could not be more offensive.  It is completely of the tack “blame-the-victim,” and should be read and answered by as many people as possible.  Readers may respond by writing a letter to the editor via:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2…
This sort of crap and unbelievably naive view is why I, a fifth-generation, native Texan choose to make the Northwest my home.  And my family still doesn’t understand.  ”What’s the big deal?”

Gay LiberAction Milk Box EventBetween seventy-five and fifty people gathered in downtown Fort Worth this evening to protest and talk about the events at Rainbow Lounge.  I will link in a longer article later, but I wanted everyone to know that the Fort Worth and North Texas gay community has been energized by this terrible event and continue to call upon the FWPD and TABC to give us some answers.

Reading thisarticle actually just made me ill.  Worse than the defense of a newspaper of homophobia is the multitude of people debating who don’t seem to see how the police defense of “gay panic” is illogical and irrational.  We have so far to go in educating the public that gay men are not a bunch of sexual fiends out to attack every man that they see.  Evil, Evil, Evil, as a friend used to say.

Chad Gibson InterviewPlease find an interview with Chad Gibson here:
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/ne…

Candy Lightner,has distanced herself from, and disavowed MADD’s policies. Because in her opinion, MADD, not just in Texas, has become an anti alcohol organisation, instead of an anti drunk driving organisation. Whereas her stance was anti drunk driving, not anti alcohol.

Anti alcoholYou are right about MADD becoming an anti alcohol organization. When I lived in Alberta, the government started talking about allowing neigbourhood pubs. For some bizarre reason, MADD was dead set against having bars that people could walk home from instead of driving. Other things they have done here in Canada have given me an even lower opinion of that group.

Candy Lightner quote

Lightner stated that MADD “has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving”.

Washington Times, August 6, 2002 (via Wikipedia)
Lightner founded MADD in 1980 and left in 1985 because of the direction it was taking.

Why, why, whyis it that the first thing people want to do these days is tell their story to a TV reporter? The first thing Chad should have done is get a good attorney and take that attorney’s advice. Such advice might include not doing interviews without an attorney being present, and certainly not volunteering that he had broken the law.

I agreethat he should have retained an attorney, but he is 26 years old and the situation in Fort Worth is very high pressure now.  Sadly way too much is being played out in the press and not in the investigations.  ACLU has also started its own investigation into the situation.

The best adviceI’ve heard in a long time.
My dad was in city politics and he always told me never to talk to the press without first consulting an attorney.
It is just like giving a statement to the police. Everything you say can and will be used against you.