Fort Worth Police: State Involved Too

Just to show gay agendaers Texas cops are equal opportunity jerks: WEBSTER, Texas - Police used a Taser on a pastor and pepper spray to disperse his congregants Wednesday after the pastor allegedly interfered with a traffic stop in the church parking lot. Congregants say they were in the Iglesia Profetica Peniel church for an early morning prayer when pastor Jose Elias Moran went to assist the stopped driver, a church member, by asking the police what had happened. ... Moran's son Miguel said 30 witnesses saw the officer turn aggressive and repeatedly kick the church door. Several members were hit with pepper spray and children were present, Miguel Moran said. "They treated him as if he were a drug dealer or murderer, but he is a pastor that tries to help the community," Moran said. "The police always want to be right but they are not." Moran's wife, Maria, said she tried to help her husband after he was hit with the Taser but police threatened to arrest her.

I can't believe the comments from a few of the posters. I'd be willing to bet Herman from L.A. or Christopher from MN have never spent anytime in Texas. I don't live my life around being lesbian. Its a part of who I am but, not the entire part. And you guys are from two states that share the motto "There oughta' be a law".......... and there probably is.

Maybe we should boycott American Airlines at DFW. Perhaps their well-honed lobbying department, their GLBT outreach program, and their PR firm of Witek-Combs can convince the city of Fort Worth why they would want to positively resolve this issue??? Then again, I'm sure the Advocate, HRC, or the others in bed with American will have the Advocate remove this posting, again...

MMM Lana Shey, Do you suppose that posting something that you experienced 20 years ago is even relevent? Yes. That night a straight bar(also recently opened as a new place) was also inspected, guess what folks...there were more arrest made in the straight bar than the Rainbow Bar. Another thing you are apparently ignorant about...the Rainbow Bar owner knew the officers were coming and still allowed his bartenders to over serve the patrons. I have worked in Fort Worth over 25 years, yes 25 years ago I would admit that there was a huge problem with homophobia. Today, There is a ongoing problem, guess what...it is not anywhere near what it was 25 years ago. And there are plenty of openly gay/lesbian officers on the dept. Perhaps if the patrons were not shitfaced drunk there would not have been a problem in the first place

I'm from Texas, and I was raised in Dallas and even lived in Ft.Worth for a period, I always loved it in Ft.Worth, the people were so friendly, I thought even more friendlier the the Dallas people. But I will have to say that the Police in Dallas and Ft.Worth do harass GLBT's, I used to Bartend and preform shows in bars in Ft.Worth and Arlington 20 years ago and the cops and TABC were always coming in to our bars, they never went across the street to the tittie bars and harass them. They would give us in drag hell and ask stupid questions at the same time making fun of us. one day we had to close the bar just because the bar tender was arrested on PI charges, they saw him drinking behind the bar, yes he was drinking but he was not drinking alcohol, they just wanted to close us down because they were a bunch of homophobes, BTW we were having a benefit show that night for one of our patrons that had been beaten and harassed by the cops and was in the hospital.

Texas isn't the worst.... Tennessee is!

From other reports, at least two other bars were also hit for "inspection" - straight bars at that. Their previous "inspections" involved walk throughs and private questioning, but the officers in this case came in deliberately expecting to arrest people. The issue, I think, has less to do on whether it was a case of LGBT discrimination but rather if it was a case of overzealous brutality by law enforcement.

From what the Ft. Worth police chief said it seems that the PD may not be the homophobes here. There's much more to this story that we need to know before blaming anybody. We now know that it was TABC agents that beat the patron up. Was a gay bar deliberately selected on the anniversary of Stonewall? By who? TABC? Is it typical for bar patrons to be arrested for public intoxication during "inspections" at straight bars? Was this a routine liquor license inspection? If so, why was it conducted at 1am? Are the local police routinely asked to accompany TABC? Do they always bring along a paddy wagon, or only this night? Did someone have a hunch 'that there'll be trouble with them homos'? We must demand a full investigation to find out what really happened.

This is just pure and simple harassment. I hope that people in Fort Worth will fight back. One version of hell must be having to live in places like Alabama, Mississippi, or Texas (not that there are not homophobic hell holes elsewhere).

And, It sounds like the Texas officials were going to make the 40th Anniversary of Stonewall memorable again. I cannot believe that this happened inside of a bar, unless those arrested were really a mess...no matter what, that sort of thing is not necessary by the police, especially when they were not called to come in.