Senior Editor Tammye Nash is just now leaving the hospital in Fort Worth where she spoke with Chad Gibson’s family. Gibson is in intensive care after reportedly suffering head trauma when he was thrown to the ground by police early Sunday during a raid of the Rainbow Lounge. Nash said she visited with Gibson’s mother and his sister this morning, and they told her that his condition has worsened. Gibson reportedly has a brain bleed — also known as intracerebral hemorraghing — and the clot inside his skull has gotten larger and shifted, which is a bad sign. Gibson is scheduled for another CT scan at 10 a.m. today. After that, doctors will decide whether the clot can be shrunk with medication or whether they need to perform surgery. Stay tuned, and keep Gibson in your thoughts and prayers.
does his family need any help with medical or legal bills? is there a way the voice can set up a fund to collect for them?
He is definately in my thoughts and prayers.
Great idea InfamousQBert. (waits with checkbook for answer).
Has anyone contacted HRC/EQ TX or any other groups to get this out in a national post? Or contacted ACLU to step in? Any attorneys to help represent?
@ E: tammye nash responded back to an email and stated that the voice can’t set up the fund, but would promote it if someone else got one going. i honestly don’t know how to go about doing that, but maybe someone else does?
Attorneys and organizations like HRC are fine, but this is an outrage and only visible action will get the attention of the city government. The official statement by police was about as lame as they come. Everyone knows “PI” arrests are used for harassment.
Homophobic America strikes again!
I wish I could say i am “shocked” – and saddned by this but I am not. I am frustrated, appauled, and my heart goes out the the family and friends of Mr. Gibson. I have been out of the protest scene since my gay bashing in Denton Texas that was so highly publicized – it seems this keeps happening time and time again in North TX (DFW) but we must never sway, never cave, never shy away, and never under any circumstances forget who we are and stand up for who we are and what we stand for 100%. If I wasnt working under such strict conditions I would be there in a heart beat…go get em’!
XO -Chris-
Thanks for your continued reporting on the troubling development concerning Chad Gibson.
My own blog on the raid is here:
https://wheneftalks2.blogspot.com/2009/06/concerns-raised-by-rainbow-room-raid.html
I would appreciate your comments and critique.
EF
The officers who inflicted injury on this poor guy for no apparent reason will likely be commended, promoted and given a handsome bonus and/or raise. At least that’s how things are done in Dallas…and that’s the way the officers are trained. Why should Fort Worth be any different?
is there a EMAIL or even a MAIL address were we can send cards to?
i think it would be good to have cards etc to show support.
I cant describe how my heart hurts because of this. I am just reading up on what happened and am not surprised, though very sad. This is just amazing at how, in 2009, something like this could happen.
We would be happy to assit in setting up or contribruting to any fundraisers and promoting them on our site
This may be the DFW version of Stonawall coming 40 years after the fact. It’s time for us to put down our petty disputes, the cocktails, and the items on the sale rack and come together as a strong LGBT community with our allies and take charge of this situation for Chad and others who were wrongly arrested before it happens again. It’s time to get moving!!! This is a wakeup call!!!
Let us paint downtown funcky town every color of the rainbow: hell no, we won’t go. where queer and we are here to stay. I’f anything happens to Chad, then the streets will be painted all the colors in our pride flag.
It’s time we all come together on our state capitols and demand what’s ours and then on the weekend of October 11, 2009 we’ll take it to Washington D.C. on the National Mall. Contact your local congressmen and they can tell you how to set up a Tour of the White House. Wear the “family” colors. Let’s give the White House a RAINBOW MAKEOVER!
https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7205836201#/pages/LGBT-Equality-March-on-Washington-DC-Oct-10-11-2009/84093097030
Wow! This doesn’t jive with my image of Ft. Worth at all. They have always seemed to observe the ‘Live and let live’ motto, and have some of the best museums Texas has to offer. I recently read that the Broadway Baptist Church in downtown Cowtown just got thrown out of the wacko Southern Baptist Convention because they insisted on including pictures of members who are same-sex partners in their membership directory. Did some nut job of a Sheriff get elected?
My thoughts are with Chad. My condolences to Ft. Worth for this ugly stain brought on by what is probably a small group of ignorant law enforcement ‘officers’.
I have volunteered for our community and I have marched. It’s takes times like these to make our community wake up and realize you left your rose colored glasses on for too long. We need to educate ourselves on the issues that affect us. Even if you’ve never been a victim of a gay bashing…it should hurt you to see another human being subjected to that type of pain. That’s exactly what this was, a gay bashing. Fort Worth police have always had this reputation for being “good ol’ boys”. When I lived there I went through the same problems. Dallas police ran my ID for warrants when I was gay bashed and never did an investigation. For the females that think this only happens to gay men…think again. I’m a successful, femme, lesbian. It can happen to you too. Step up and be heard and stop cowaring in the corner as this injustice happens.
A friend of mine who was there at the Rainbow Lounge during the raid that night called me the next day and told me what had happened. As a wife of a peace officer for the State of Texas, I wish to remain anonymous. My husband’s department is not affiliated with the Fort Worth Police Dept.
That being said…
I have read the first hand experiences from the patrons of the rainbow Lounge which is now in the location that used to Hot Shots. The stories describe individual police officers that used their authority in a way that was illegal and excessive under the color of law.
These officers did not conduct their inspection in a professional manner. It is appallling that this raid took place on a very important anniversary for the Gay Rights movement. It is actually embarrassing to me that these officers were most likely not briefed about the importance of the date.
These are my friends. As for the public intoxication rationale. There are certain physical clues that an officer looks for to determine if someone appears intoxicated as a danger to themselves or others. These officers did not take the time to assess the clues before rounding up people. A reporter from the Dallas Voice on a progressive radio show today stated that Chad Gibson was holding hands with another man and was walking to the bathroom when their ahnds were seperated by force and he was forced against a wall. His shoes made it hard for the officers to spread his legs apart and they forced him to the ground where he lost consciousness. Chad Gibson is now in a hospital suffereing from hemmoraging in his brain. He was not combatant, he was not resisting.
Other accounts state that the officers started pushing men on top of pool tables, pulling people outside and binding their hands with plastic zipties.
I have several questions and points to make:
1. If two other bars were also “inspected” that night, where are their strories of being restrained and detianed? If the same thing happen to them even if it was a moslty heterosexual bar, there would still be upset people.
2. Is there anyone that believes a patron made sexual advances to a fully uniformed police officer during all this chaos? I think it is a ploy to get sympathy from ignorant and homophobic people that still exist in this metroplex.
3. Do the officers truly believe it is “our word against theirs” with upstanding individuals there such as Todd Camp.
4. I am proud of my city for banding together and showing support. I am proud that Joel Burns was productively reactive to this sad situation.
5. Whether it was an intentional raid on a “gay bar” or the officers decided to take their authority too far once they entered, I believe it was discriminatory and a hate crime and the officers should be thoroughly prosecuted.
I expect justice.
The COPS went over board there seems to be little doubt of that, however, no one in the media is making mention of how one patron grabbed a police officer. Also, this was not a raid it was an inspection, a planned inspection that the owners knew was coming.
How sad. I was in Houston on the night this happened where they were celebrating Pride without incident.
I am also getting of the age where Stonewall and the struggles of the past are more than just a history lesson for me and those I have known. It was life back then. It made the community at large stronger and focused and maybe that will be one of the results of this seemingly unprovoked action.
It is imperative that a complete investigation be done as tranparently as it can be conducted and the results publicized to the citizens of Ft. Worth and N. Texas.
Another question might be why the limited local TV coverage? Is there not some very good investigative reporter who might take this story and expand it to see what is the truth about the mindset of the politicians/police force as it relates to hate crimes and the LGBT community? I bet if we use the power of the internet to raise the issues to news media, it will be hard to ignore.
In the meantime, I will offer up healing energy for Chad and his family and friends, that the Universal Power in all of Us protect him and return him to his families (bio and chosen).
What the hell is going on in Ft.Worth, I lived in Ft. Worth for 45 years and love it but this is crazy. The Ft.Worth police need to step up and help this man