Historically, law enforcement has been not just unreceptive, but downright injurious toward the gay community. This is especially true in the traditionally conservative areas of Southern America. The city of Fort Worth, Texas, is no exception. A incident at a bar in led to the usually reclusive members of the Fort Worth Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, and Transgendered community standing up with a newly founded voice.
This voice came from the group Fairness Fort Worththat formed in response to an episode that took place one evening between local and state law enforcement and patrons at a new gay bar, and has helped to provide positive changes for many gays and lesbians in North Texas. Shortly after midnight in the early morning hours of June 28, what should have been a routine inspection by the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission TABC at The Rainbow Lounge, took a turn for the worse that would eventually prove to be a catalyst for change in the gay community of North Texas.
In the dark of the bar, the officers claimed that they were threatened and sexually provoked by drunken patrons and began removing and arresting the offenders. By the end of the debacle, twenty one patrons had been arrested and eventually released , and one unfortunate individual, Chad Gibson, was hospitalized. To add insult to injury to the gay community, this incident occurred exactly forty years from the date of a similar raid on a similar bar, The Stonewall Inn in New York City. That raid led to three days of riots and is credited with spurring the current gay rights movement.
In response to the raid on the Rainbow Lounge, the gay community once again banded together, but instead of riots they formed the activist group Fairness Fort Worth. This new group would insist upon equal treatment for gays and lesbians from government officials and law enforcement specifically in Forth Worth Texas and the surrounding areas. Immediately, a media campaign was started with over emails describing the incident and abuses of the previous night.
Once some organization was determined, work began to right the wrongs that happened the night of the raid. A witness clinic was arranged with eighteen pro-bono attorneys who were available at Celebration Community Church for anyone who was a patron at the bar that night.
