LGBT advocates say if charges are true, paramedic’s behavior would be an anomaly in DFR
Zachery McGinnis
After a gay man injured in an altercation inside an Oak Lawn bar said he was refused treatment by paramedics because of blood on his head, Dallas Fire and Rescue has opened an internal affairs investigation and asked other witnesses to come forward.
Members of the LGBT community who provide sensitivity training for Dallas Fire and Rescue said this sort of interaction between the community and first responders isn’t typical.
Zachery McGinnis said that he was talking to a woman inside BJ’s NXS! on July 29 when the woman’s male companion — identified later by another witness as the woman’s husband — hit him in the head with a glass, and then left with the woman.
McGinnis said a Dallas Fire and Rescue paramedic who responded to the scene refused to treat him because he was bleeding.
Rafael McDonnell who does advocacy work with Resource Center said that if the allegations prove to be true, the case is an anomaly.
“This is the first case like this I remember hearing about in the department,” he said.
McDonnell said the department needs to set out clear expectations about how everyone will be treated.
“The LGBT community needs to feel that message is being heard,” he added.
Lt. Joel Lavendar, spokesman for Dallas Fire and Rescue, said his agency will conduct a thorough investigation.
“It hurts that any group feels they’re treated that way, but we hold our people accountable,” Lavendar said. “Our brand is only as good as the last time we serviced you. We aim for top-notch service and nothing less.”
Lavender said DFR recently went through department-wide diversity training. And all new recruits go through diversity training that includes four hours on the LGBT community.
“That’s more than any other community,” said Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance President Patti Fink, who has participated in the training with DFR since 2004.
She said she gets few questions about the spread of HIV, because all of the protocols are in place and the paramedics are already trained in medical aspects of the job. She said tuberculosis and hepatitis C are more of threat to first responders because they spread more easily.
Fink said she advises recruits to treat a same-sex couple the same way they would treat a married couple.
“If you let a spouse ride in the ambulance, let a gay person’s partner ride in the ambulance,” she said.
For those who have a religious problem with the LGBT community, she said they stress it’s about professionalism — don’t create an incident.
“You don’t want to be on the 6 o’clock news,” she said she tells them.
As president of DGLA, Fink said she’s watched the five to 10 annual complaints filed with the city of Dallas under the nondiscrimination ordinance. She said by the time most of the complaints are settled, those involved have moved on.
“Most people want an apology and a policy change,” she said. “[They say,], ‘Don’t let this happen to anyone else.’”
McGinnis agreed that what he wants is an apology and assurances it wouldn’t happen again. He said he appreciates DFR’s quick response in opening an investigation into the incident.
McGinnis also said he had little interest in filing a police report or pursuing assault charges against the man who hit him with the glass.
A man who said he was in the bar and witnessed McGinnis get hit said that McGinnis provoked the incident by being too “touchy-feely” with the woman.
McGinnis this week rejected those claims as ridiculous.
“Why would I be touchy-feely with a woman? Someone I don’t even know?” McGinnis said. “That’s a ridiculous allegation.”
McGinnis has said he hasn’t gotten back the credit card he was using to pay for his drinks that night. The witness said McGinnis’ credit card was turned down and that bar staff had returned the card to McGinnis. McGinnis, however, said that although he does not have the credit card, he does have credit card records showing a $26 charge from the bar that night. BJ’s owner Ron Adams, who was not at the bar that night, said that the bar tab was closed, and the bar doesn’t have the card either.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 8, 2014.