- Jon Nelson
By Jon Nelson | Fairness Fort Worth
I read with interest the Rev. Stephen Sprinkle’s commentary contrasting the Atlanta outcome with Fort Worth’s after raids at gay bars in each city. He concludes that “Factors contributing to the non-resolution of the Fort Worth police raid may include a less-than-robust defense of bar patrons by the Rainbow Lounge ownership at the time of the bust, and the less aggressive approach Fort Worth gay leaders employed to bring the city and the police department to account.”
The headline contrasts the $1 million settlement with none in Fort Worth. Although the Rev. Sprinkle doesn’t mention this as a contrast, I’ll deal with it anyway. The Atlanta suit was filed by a private attorney on behalf of 19 patrons of the club and no such lawsuit has yet been filed in Fort Worth .The LGBT community formed Fairness Fort Worth at the outset and stepped forward to represent the community. The injustice experienced was against the patrons and not the bar owner nor any employees of the bar. This contrasts sharply with the facts in Atlanta where the police targeted both the bar and its patrons.
The Rev. Sprinkle’s one striking contrast is his belief that the Fort Worth Police Department has never issued an apology and Atlanta has. I have attended at least three meeting where Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead has publicly apologized; the last one was in front of the Rainbow Lounge at a news conference held on Nov. 5, 2009.
The Rev. Sprinkle writes that there has been a “non-resolution” of the raid on the Rainbow lounge. Let me share with you what has happened since the raid and, in the words of the Rev. Sprinkle, “You be the judge”:
Right after the raid, about 450 of us showed up at City Council on July 14, 2009, most as supporters of Fairness Fort Worth, and voiced our outrage and anger. As a result, the city manager, at the direction of the City Council, appointed the Diversity Task Force, made up of city employees and private citizens, both straight and gay. The following task force recommendations have been now been adopted by the City of Fort Worth:
1. Diversity training for city employees: The Human Resources Department, after working with Resource Center Dallas and the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance to develop an appropriate curriculum, began in May to provide four-hour training classes for city employees. The department has been training approximately 100 employees per month during the past seven months.
2. Diversity training for elected and appointed officials: Mayor Mike Moncrief and Councilman Joel Burns participated in the first training class for city employees. Other elected and appointed officials are welcome to participate in any of the training classes.
3. Job notices: The Human Resources Department has incorporated appropriate non-discrimination language into all job notices and application forms.
4. Letter from police chief: Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead has posted a letter on the Police Department’s website expressing his support for a diverse police force that welcomes qualified applicants regardless of various characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity.
5. Non-discrimination ordinance: The City Council on Nov. 10, 2009, adopted an ordinance to prohibit discrimination on the basis of transgender, gender identity, or gender expression.
6. Federal legislation: The City Council on Jan. 26, 2010, adopted the city’s 2010 federal legislative program, which supports passage of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). City Council members and staff visited Washington, D.C., in March to brief Fort Worth’s congressional representatives and staff on the city’s legislative priorities. In June, the Diversity Task Force’s 14 citizen members sent a letter to each member of Fort Worth’s congressional delegation urging them to support ENDA. Nevertheless, this federal legislation is still pending in committees.
7. Public events: The Public Events Department has agreed to assist local organizations that wish to use parades, festivals and other public events to promote Fort Worth as an inclusive community. For example, the Will Rogers Memorial Center will host the Cowtown Rodeo in March 2011.
8. Business incentives: On June 22, the City Council adopted an updated tax abatement policy. The new policy requires each business applying for city incentives to indicate in its application whether that business provides all benefits to its employees “on an equal and non-discriminatory basis.”
9. Marketing and outreach: The Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau, in collaboration with the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce, has undertaken an LGBT-specific marketing campaign to attract more LGBT visitors to Fort Worth. The Bureau has helped to produce “Visit my GLBT DFW,” a guide for visitors to Dallas and Fort Worth, and is distributing this publication at Fort Worth’s three visitors’ centers. The Bureau has created a unique link for the GLBT Chamber to the Bureau’s new booking engine, whereby both organizations will be able to track any room nights generated by their joint efforts. The Bureau has become a member of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association and has begun to list local GLBT events on IGLTA’s website.
10. City vendors: The Law Department has incorporated language into city contracts so as to state explicitly that failure to comply with the city’s anti-discrimination ordinances constitutes a contract violation.
11. Comprehensive Plan: The Planning and Development Department has cited the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce in the 2010 Comprehensive Plan, which was adopted by the City Council on February 9.
12. Equal access to employee benefits: The fiscal year 2011 budget, recommended by the city manager on Aug. 10 and adopted by the City Council on Sept. 21, provides benefits to the domestic partners of city employees. Current employees and new hires may now elect to add a domestic partner to their health insurance coverage, effective Jan. 1, 2011, with the employee paying 100 percent of the domestic partner’s premium. In addition, all employees may designate a domestic partner as a survivor to receive monthly pension benefits.
13. LGBT support group: The Human Resources Department on Sept. 30 issued an “ACToday” notice offering to assist interested City employees in the formation of support groups.
14. Educational campaign. City staff has worked with the city’s Diversity Advisory Committee and local LGBT groups to develop and implement an educational campaign to increase awareness of the city’s anti-discrimination ordinances. The city launched the campaign in late August by placing an advertisement in the 2010 International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies conference program. Similar ads have appeared in the Dallas Voice and the Fort Worth Weekly, and another ad will appear in the 2011 Stock Show program. The campaign has also gained visibility at four public events: Jazz Fest on Sept. 10 and 11, the Harambee Festival on Oct. 2, the Tarrant County Gay Pride Week Parade on Oct. 3, and Musicarte on Oct. 8 and 9. City staff, along with volunteers from the Human Relations Commission and the Diversity Task Force, shared information about the city’s anti-discrimination efforts and distributed diversity-related promotional items to reinforce that message.
15. Family leave: The city manager in August approved an amendment to the city’s Personnel Rules and Regulations (PRR), granting family leave benefits to employees with domestic partners. The City Manager will soon be recording this and other recent PRR amendments with the City Secretary. The family leave benefits will become effective Jan. 1, 2011.
16. Communication: City staff has prepared a proposed Administrative Regulation on social media policy for review by department heads, and for approval by the city manager in November. By December, the city manager intends to use social media accordingly in order to communicate more effectively with the LGBT community.
17. Health care: City staff has been working with a Fairness Fort Worth task force to assist local hospitals in complying with the provisions of federal healthcare regulations as they pertain to the recognition of family members.
18. Implementation: The City Manager’s Office has agreed to hold quarterly meetings of the Diversity Task Force during 2010, and thereafter to convene the Task Force as necessary, in order to monitor the implementation of Task Force recommendations.
19. Treatments for gender identity disorder: The Ad Hoc Committee on Healthcare Benefits has recommended further study about the feasibility of providing this coverage. The city manager has agreed to consider the results of such research and to make a pertinent recommendation to the City Council. Accordingly, the Human Resources Department and the Health Benefits Advisory Committee will reconsider this issue and report back to the Diversity Task Force no later than March 2011, in advance of the fiscal year 2012 budget preparation cycle.
20. State legislation: The City Council’s Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee on October 12 endorsed the city’s state legislative program, which supports legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, transgender, gender identity, or gender expression, consistent with city ordinances.
Does this sound like “non-resolution” to you? I cannot think of one city which as accomplished more in less time in this area than Fort Worth. However, in my opinion, were the police officers sufficiently punished? No, but is that all we are going to focus on?
I write this response because of language like, “We guess the mayor of Fort Worth has more control over the courts, the press, and the gay establishment in North Texas than the mayor of Atlanta.”
As an example of factual inaccuracy, apparently the mayor of Atlanta “allowed” trials against patrons and bar employees to take place where none will in Fort Worth. But more importantly, the Rev. Sprinkle’s comments leaves the impression that the “gay establishment” is in the mayor’s back pocket and that somehow he was pulling the strings.
Frankly, that’s insulting as I am a member of the Diversity Task Force, Fairness Fort Worth and the City’s Ad Hoc Committee on Healthcare Benefits and I, along with many others, have spent long hours pushing for the reforms as set forth above. And one more point, maybe as important as the others: We, as members of the LGBT community, have opened up lines of communication with the straight community which didn’t exist before and are seen as people who care about Fort Worth, are willing to work together when possible and who just happen to be gay. So, is this “non-resolution”? You be the judge.
Jon, very nicely put. Even I’m a little shocked to see all that has been done since the raid when it’s all put together there in black and white. We may still have a long way to go, but boy, have we come a long way in short time. Thanks for all of your hard work.
As always Mr. Nelson… well said Sir! Thank you.
Hear, hear. Those of us in the trenches know we could’ve pushed an adversary into a corner and made them cry uncle — but that’s way too easy and short-sighted. The REAL work has come from bridging some huge gaps, educating those who were ignorant and acutally bringing them over to our way of thinking. Today, the LGBT Community in FW has straight ambassadors within city leadership who actively create opportunities for us where few existed before, simply because we chose to take the longer, higher road. Funny thing is it turned out to provide the quickest results! Trust relationship will do that. This work lasts far beyond the memory of one night. I’ll take that any day.
As one of those fortunate to teach the GLBT Diversity Training I can tell you the impact we’re making is astounding. Every City of FW employee from sanitation engineer to city manager MUST undergoe this 4-hour class and learn about our community and the proper way to treat us as cittizens, vistors, vendors, etc. There’s no city in the entire country that has made such a huge commitment. We’ve actually become the role-model proto-type for smaller and mid-sized citeis in Middle America that will next take our movement forward. (And if you think we’re done — hold onto your hats…) I’m proud to say that Fort Worth is Where The West Begins — AGAIN!
Thank you to Jon Nelson for the spirited defense and enumerated accomplishments of the Fairness Fort Worth group, and all in the city who work for justice. Sorry that you were offended by my estimate. On all points of error in fact, I stand corrected. But may I point out that Fairness Fort Worth was not the only group “in the trenches” on this issue, and that many other persons worked for accountability, too. No matter the enumerated accomplishments Mr. Nelson articulates so well (and, as I read them, many worthwhile), the contrast between the Eagle case and the Rainbow Lounge case still stands, I believe. What are the agenda items yet to be addressed in regards to the Rainbow Lounge? Would my honored friend say that there are any, or has the effort accomplished with these good workers wanted to accomplish? In Atlanta, the City Council balked at issuing an apology, and in fact never issued one. So Fort Worth’s City Fathers are not alone in that. But the award to the Atlanta Eagle is an acknowledgment of the error and harm done there that cannot be denied. Nothing comparable exists in the Rainbow Lounge case, though the harm done here was just as great. The magnitude of the ongoing problem of LGBTQ community in North Texas is still great, as well, whether we are faced by detractors from without or divisions from within (and there are plenty of both). When the Dallas Voice asked for permission to repost my opinion from my blog (and I was sought out in order to grant permission), I freely granted it. While I never sought to pick a fight, I am still looking for a better way to overcome the social and political divisions that make us weaker in the face of our dedicated opponents in the religious and political communities of North Texas. If the contrast I draw is so controversial as to elicit such a response, it seems to me that this matter is not as settled as some of our leadership would like to believe. If there were no grounds for disagreement, then my post would be dismissed with little or no attention. But there is more to be done here, as this strong response shows me. On a personal note, I am pleased that Mr. Nelson’s comments are so forthcoming. He has always been gracious to me personally.
Stephen, I agree with much of what you have to say. Just as with other movements, our work will probably never be done so it is incumbent on us to work together which we can do.
To paraphrase an old Fort Worth bumper sticker: “Jon Nelson, ah luv yew!”
I like to base my opinions on facts and not hearsay and misinformation. Being personally familiar with both cities I can not form an opinion based on Sprinkle’s commentary. In addition I do not see any reason for the comparison.
While there has been remarkable progress in Fort Worth on LGBT issues, I would like to point out that there are still at least these remaining issues:
1) There is a long standing tradition that LGBTQA businesses pay the legal expenses of employees and patrons that get arrested. Even the mafia paid the legal defenses for the Stonewall arrestees 40+ years ago. The Dallas Eagle and Club Dallas are reported as paying legal expenses for employees and patrons facing criminal charges. I have no knowledge if the Rainbow Lounge paid or not, but they definitely should have.
2) I’m not comfortable with “Treatments for gender identity disorder”. I don’t see transgered as a disorder. It’s a sexual preference, equal in stature to other sexual preferences. And remember, it was the T in LGBTQA who started the modern gay rights movement at Stonewall! Oddly, they are the first people we LGB people seems to throw under the bus at the first sign of trouble.
3) The Police Chief promised a public town hall meeting to answer the numberous questions, inconsistencies, and ommissions in the Rainbow Lounge Report, but said it would have to wait until the criminal charges are settled. The criminal charges are not settled, so when can we expect a public town hall meeting to discuss?
4) We still have the lingering accusation that the sergeant at the Rainbow Lounge Raid made homophobic statements. While these accusations might be false, why weren’t they even investigated?
5) There have been NO criminal prosecutions for violation of the city ordinance for discrimination against LGBTQA people despite very public violations. While it’s good to have the ordinance on paper, the proof is in action in enforcing it, which has been non-existent.
6) City contractors have publically violated LGBTQA rights with outrageous statements and actions and yet have kept their contracts with the city. While it’s good to have language added to city contracts, again, the proof is in action in enforcing it, which has also been non-existent.