I was out of commission Thursday afternoon, recovering from a migraine, so I am late in posting this. But I wanted people to read what Fort Worth Police Chief had to say yesterday in this letter I got in my e-mail:
In appreciation for the time you spent talking with me Tuesday night, I wanted you to see a letter that is being posted on our City’s website.
Also, I am sending out a press release today that basically says the FWPD is NOT going to assist the TABC with “bar inspections” until a few things are accomplished:
1-I want to meet in person with the TABC director to discuss our roles in these efforts…I want to make them more ‘service’ based instead of enforcement.
2-a number of witnesses have come forward and that is a good thing. I want a complete internal investigation completed and discuss the findings with the community and evaluate what changes can take place…
3-I am working closely with our own HR department to assess the availability of multi-culturalism training. I don’t have the funds but will find them ASAP if a good program can assist our department.
4-Since I am new to this region (6 months), I want to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs and ensure they are the right thing for our community. They are very effective if done right…time will assist me with making that decision.
Thanks again to both of you. I hold true to my promise to meet with a group of leaders to discuss how we can work together to make positive changes.
Have a safe and happy 4th!
Jeff
(Jeffrey W. Halstead, Fort Worth police chief).
Letter from Chief Halstead
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I strongly suggest that Chief Halstead and the City of Fort Worth find the funds for multi-cultural training, otherwise they will have to find the funds for a big lawsuit! I suggest going through the B’nai B’rith League. They offer a great Tolerance and Diversity program as my former employer hired them to come out to the workplace. This training includes LGBT issues. Their website is : https://www.bnaibrith.org/issues/toler_div.cfm
I find this email from Halstead is very encouraging and sincere. While I think his early stance was wrong and misinformed, I do believe based on those that have actually met with him he wants to make things right. He gets it. He is doing something about it. He is communicating. We are making progress.
Now we just need the editors of the Star Telegram to get it.
From today’s editorial section of the Star Telegram:
“The Police Department informed Rainbow Lounge management in advance that an inspection would take place that night. Why didn’t the managers educate the officers about the date’s significance? That’s need-to-know information for uniformed law enforcement officers showing up at a gay bar on that date.
It’s also need-to-know for any bar patron that laying a hand on a police officer will result in a quick trip to jail.
Drinking to the point of intoxication is a crime even in a bar. Officers tasked with enforcing alcohol laws must make sure local and state statutes are observed regardless of the date on the calendar. The residents of Fort Worth who share the streets with bar patrons throughout the city expect as much.
Law enforcement officers also must follow agency procedures to make sure inspections are conducted professionally and legally.
Why would a police supervisor, six officers and two TABC agents knowingly risk their own careers, the reputations of their departments and a public relations nightmare by engaging in targeted or overly aggressive enforcement against a sexual minority group? We’re not sure they would, but as we said, there are more questions than answers at this point.”
Excuse me while I go throw up my breakfast.
well you’re a day late and a dime short Mr. Halstead. let’s not forget that before he said he would get to the bottom of this he was all to quick to 1) deny any of his men were even there 2) then say his men were there but acted appropriately since they were having fend off sex-crazed homos. he had no facts or done any investigation to inform those comments. what that tells me is that he is completely biased in favor of the police dept. and will easily lie to clear them. the facts are, even if Chad Gibson had made a sexual advance on an officer (and that’s a BIG if and something he mysteriously was never charged for) the officers had no right to use that much force. he knew that and still tried to appeal to the public’s worst misconceptions about gay men. let’s not forget that, no matter how much back-pedaling he’s doing now.
I’m with Andy, Chief Halstead’s behavior in this has been reprehensible. No matter how much he backpedals, and no matter how sincere he sounds it does not excuse his disgusting statements.
He doesn’t get to pin this all on TABC, from the photo we have of the incident, he’s the one that lied about his officers involvement, he’s the one that lied about the timeline and he’s the one that said the guy deserved to have his head bashed in. Saying he’s super, super sorry and won’t do it again is not OK, he needs to tender his resignation.
According to his email, it seems like he’s receiving more information from actual witnesses and instead of completely relying on the word of his men. If he can admit wrongdoing from his own department then I’ll be satisfied. Hopefully this will become an “egg on his face” moment and he’ll learn from it. I agree with Andy and John. I still think he threw TABC under the bus.
Glad to see the Police Chief is responding instead of trying to cover up. The assertion that they will no longer participate in TABC activities like this is encouraging. Still, the pressure needs to be kept on for a full and impartial investigation.
Somehow I just find the date and time of the raid way too suspicious to be coincidence.
Great reporting on this Tammye and everyone at the Voice.
Mark,
The FW Star Telegram has been erasing some of our comments. The comments are not inappropriate or offenses. The comments are defending our “rights” as citizens and also supportive of the DFW gay community. They are erasing these comments! Do the editors and head honchos of the Star Telegram know about this???
No surprise in the role of the TABC. Interesting that no one at the TABC (or the Governor’s office) has said anything about how the bar raid was planned — or who was in charge. The fish rots from the head. In this case, Rick Perry.
Check out this article:
https://www.365gay.com/
tisha,
if he admits wrongdoing that is a step in the right direction. if he finds the funds to train his officers, that is another. if he opens his eyes to his own actions (and inactions) and learns from it, that is another. i’m all for making progress on this and if it takes baby steps to get there i’ll be disappointed but at least hopefull.
however, he seriously needs to come forward and apologize. early on he just defended his men. he didn’t have all the facts in this case and he jumped to side with fellow officers over the glbt community. i don’t know if i blame him entirely on this but it still shows how unwilling to properly investigate this, he was.
last sunday night we had heard rumors that the chief was going to come talk to us as we demanded answers on the steps of the courthouse. instead he chose to send a statement (that basically said nothing) to be read by someone other than himself. i understand not wanting to release a strong statement that early in the timeline. but at least have the decency to show up and speak to a hurting community yourself. that was a slap in the face.
then the “gay panic” defense came out, even though multiple eye witnesses said that nobody groped these officers. this was an insult and nothing more than a ploy to garner sympathy from the homophobic element in ft worth and ft worth politics. chad gibson is in icu right now because the police put him there. they may claim that he injured himself but eye witnesses say otherwise. they may claim he was drunk but eye witnesses say otherwise. they may claim that he groped an officer but eye witnesses say otherwise.
when will our voices be heard and when will justice be served?
How quickly the tune will change from:
“You’re touched and advanced in certain ways by people inside the bar, that’s offensive,” Halstead said. “I’m happy with the restraint used when they were contacted like that.” (referring to the “sexual advances” made towards police officers by patrons at the Rainbow Lounge)
to:
“I hold true to my promise to meet with a group of leaders to discuss how we can work together to make positive changes. Have a safe and happy 4th!”
squeaky wheels get the grease…
Chief Halsted will, I hope, learn not to trust the words of his cowboys implicitly before making public pronouncements. His messages after the fact are encouraging. My concern is for the young man who is in the hospital. He will no doubt incur a host of medical bills that he may or may not be able to pay. I don’t know the young man at all, but i sent him a small check today. Chief Halsted might do well to do the same.
i’m curious to learn about any activities on the part of the vice squad of the fort worth police dept that have targeted gay men, such as entrapment at glory holes or cruising spots.
couldn’t find anything on the vice squad and gays, but this came up thru googling:
https://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/may/15/fort-worth-vice-lets-channel-11-document-prostitut/
please lemme know of any instances of arrests, citations, or targeting of gay meeting spots by the vice squad.
i doubt the police have only been involved in bar harassment lately, in terms of keeping tabs on queers and crime.
CHAD has gone HOME. He had a concussion. He’s going to be OKAY.
Continue to fuel the outrage with exaggeration, but Chad has left the building.
Halstead definitely blew it when he spoke prematurely before getting other information besides those from his lying employees. Halstead definitely blew it when he didn’t denounce the excessive force and stated he was pleased with the “restraint” shown by his officers. No question….Andy and John are absolutely correct in their statements and anger.
Where we part ways are their (at least Andy’s) demands for his resignation.
Anyone out there make similar stupid mistakes in business? Spoke before you knew all the facts? Defended your employees because you trusted them? Regretted it later and tried to make it right?
I want to believe Halstead did just that and is now sincerely trying to correct his early blunders in this whole matter. I believe his recent actions and comments are taking this in the right direction.
Demanding he tender his resignation now gets us where? Nowhere fast. It ain’t gonna happen and creates further division between the straight and gay community.
Waiting to see what he will do with his recent olive branch to the gay community may just bring us positive changes. Maybe I see tend to see things half full vs. half empty, but I see this second option as the best choice for our community.
If he doesn’t follow through with his commitments, then I, too, would wish he would resign….although that ain’t gonna happen either. Get real.
He is responding and I believe being sincere. I look forward to the results of the investigations so then we can evaluate.
I am certain that Out and Equal, DFW and Sheriff Lupe Valdez would be willing to help him develop his training program!
Sorry, I don’t buy this newfound outreach to the GBLT community as genuine, as much as it may seem so. If there is any justice the investigations in TABC and FWPD are not going to be nice and show sever deficiencies.
The outcry to his statements and the actions of his employees has been nationwide, there is not a doubt in my mind that this guy is trying to save his own ass right now and will say anything to keep his job.
To my knowledge he hasn’t even suspended the officers involved pending an investigation, even TABC did that. He’s trying to manipulate us just like he tried to manipulate other people with the “gay panic” defense.
He hasn’t even apologized for the statements that he made, ones that he now absolutely knows were inappropriate, premature and offensive. Don’t buy into this charade to keep power.
mark, while i’m no dr i don’t think they keep you in icu for almost a week for a itsy bitsy concussion.
as for fueling the fire with exaggerations, were you there that night? did you see these events unfold in front of you? if not, i don’t think you have the right to say the eye witnesses are exaggerating.
and the last i heard he has not gone home yet. can anyone verify that he has?
Replace the label GAY with the label JEW and the entire western world would be in an uproar. One Jewish organization after another would threaten a boycott of Dallas/Fort Worth as conference centers for professional organizations (physicians, lawyers, teachers, librarians, etc.).
And what do we get? No apology from the police chief and a lecture from the local newspaper, the fairly influential FW Star Telegram. By throwing in a few crumbs, the Public Relations Dept. knows only too well that time will probably work in their favor with gay people being grateful that a little education program may get started some time in the future, and then it’s back to a subtler form of homophobia.
The local press has much to answer for. Imagine the following editorial in the Star Telegram:
“The Police Department informed THE STAR OF DAVID Lounge management in advance that an inspection would take place the night of PASSOVER. Why didn’t the managers educate the officers about the date’s significance? That’s need-to-know information for uniformed law enforcement officers showing up at a gay bar on that date.
It’s also need-to-know for any JEWISH bar patron that laying a hand on a police officer will result in a quick trip to jail.
Drinking to the point of intoxication is a crime even in a bar. Officers tasked with enforcing alcohol laws must make sure local and state statutes are observed regardless of the date on the calendar, PASSOVER OR NO PASSOVER. The residents of Fort Worth who share the streets with bar patrons throughout the city expect as much.
Law enforcement officers also must follow agency procedures to make sure inspections are conducted professionally and legally.
Why would a police supervisor, six officers and two TABC agents knowingly risk their own careers, the reputations of their departments and a public relations nightmare WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY by engaging in targeted or overly aggressive enforcement against a RELIGIOUS minority group? We’re not sure they would, but as we said, there are more questions than answers at this point.â€
Excuse me while I go throw up my breakfast–INDEED.
Rainbow Lounge Raid Rally
Tarrant County Courthouse
100 E Weatherford
Sunday, July 12
7:00 PM
THE RAINBOW LOUNGE RAIND – RALLY
LGBT North Texas will rally again at the Tarrant County Courthouse on Sunday, July 12 at 7:00 PM. If in the next two weeks there is city-wide condemnation of the Rainbow Lounge Raid then the rally will then be one to congratulate the city on their swift and sharp action. On the other hand, if first hand reports still contradict the official story, if arresting officers are not seriously disciplined, if the officer responsible for Chad Gibson’s brain hemorrhage is still an active member of the Fort Worth Police Department, if apologies are not issued by the mayor, Mike Moncrief, and the Fort Worth Police Chief, Jeffery Halstead then the tone of the rally will adequately express the indignation from our community regarding the City of Fort Worth’s less than aggressive response to homophobia and police brutality.
I may be the only one that feels this way and perhaps it comes from being older and a bit more jaded or perhaps it comes from having seen this movie before….several times.
Halstead stating he is going to do something when he finds the funds is a wank off.
A city the size of Forth Worth should have those minimal funds in hand. I am sure it is cheaper than the hours will be from city lawyers.
This is not an issue to be negotiated by a chosen few behind closed doors. We saw how well that worked with the Cinemark/Plano. The reason we never heard the result of that …was because it was never resolved…..just brushed under the table.
The tables in Dallas/Fort Worth must be full of shit being brushed under it.
Rubber chicken dinners and kissing the ass of homophobes will never move any issue forward.
If the city is too short of money to provide for sensitvity training, then FIRE THE FUCKING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS that comitted this CRIME. Take away their pensions and salary and use that as a start. These guys have been busted in one lie after another.
The bullshit line about the grope has been disputed and should be treated as slander.
As one of the speakers at Free Speech Night said………I wanted to see these guys behind bars………I agree. Slaps on the wrist vs brain injuries seems a bit inadequate.
Yeah, a slap on the wrist vs. A week long hospital stay plus a couple years worth of headaches. Let the punishment fit the crime.
I am not a gay man. I am a U.S. citizen, living in Canada for the last 40 years. I left the states because of the increasingly repressive climate present at the time I left. It is far worse now. For all the progress that the GLBT community has made in that time, I salute you. But if you look at your own history, I believe that you will note that only one tool is really effective in changing people’s behavior: economic sanctions. If it were my fight, (and it is; I am a Jew), I would immediately call for an economic boycott of all the relevant institutions. Make it as wide as you can. The state will not change its behavior until it costs them something. And I mean real bucks. Boycott beef. Boycott travel. Boycott tourism. Boycott every product that has its origins in the Great Sovereign State of Texas, or at least in the city. Put on the pressure, and keep it on. It worked for orange juice. Why not for this?