When I read Arnold Wayne Jones’ post about yesterday’s LGBT Leadership Breakfast at the Winspear Opera House, I nearly fell out of my chair. Not because I hadn’t been invited to the breakfast, but because of something Chris Heinbaugh reportedly told the gathering. According to Arnold, Heinbaugh said that “several” conventions that were planning to come to Dallas had cancelled as a result of the Rainbow Lounge raid. Really??? Several??? Are you F’in kidding me??? Now I’m no expert, but it sounds like this might make a news story. So I contacted Heinbaugh this morning to get more info. Here’s what he said:
“I have not seen that post. Either I misspoke or was not correctly heard. I did not mean to say any cancelled. I do know several groups contacted Phillip Jones to cancel and he had to scramble to get them to stay. I do not know the outcome though. Check with Phillip. My point was that we got a huge black eye over that incident and we all need to step it up to counter that.”
We’re on deadline today, but I’ll put a call into Phillip Jones this afternoon. Maybe I can also find out what happened to my invitation.
As a safety precaution, we have installed seat belts on John Wright’s chair.
And yet the NGLTF is holding Creating Change here.
To a lot of people in this country, Texas is a red-neck, bible-beater, back-woods lynching place. When cops raid gay bars and beat the shit out of someone, it re-affirms those perceptions.
A lot of conventions are attended by gay people. Maybe the organizers prefer that their attendees keep all their teeth.