I don’t live in FW but I hope they demand the Chief’s resignation, the firing of all bad cops involved in this travesty of law enforcement, the establishment of a GLBT community liaison like we have in Dallas, and proper screening of intolerant Police Academy applicants among other necessary reforms.

I defer to my therapist on this one. He grew up in Fort Worth and has lived in this area all his life. He is gay and is well aware of what goes on around here. He sees this event as police harassment pure and simple. Probably after harassing the previous gay bar at that site they are back to reinforce the message that they dont want any more gay bars. THis happens all the time.

The cops on the beat here are just as rednecked as the Texas Cop stereotype suggests. THe further up the ladder, the more sophisticated the veneer. Since things got a bit out of control – fractured skull and all that – bad show – the city is going to have to come up some good cover stories – but with so many witnesses giving consistent accounts, that is going to be hard.

ANyway, his take. Sounds plausible to me – but what do I know. There is hip political group here called Queer Liberaction and I plan to support them and attend their rallies and events – this is precisely the point at which you have to stand up for yourself

everything in this state is controlled by the TABC… from the way strippers dance to the hours of bar operations. every bar has to purchase their liquor from the TABC. They are allowed to use actual minors in sting operations. and even as the above instance notes, they are allowed to go onto private property and cite people with public drunkenness and arrest them.

gay bars are always more scrutinized by the Drinking Nazis. gay people drink more socially than their straight counterparts. there have been several gay bars in Texas with constant TABC problems… and all of them have been shut down.

so don’t fool yourselves. nothing about that ‘good old boy’ pompous bloated-bellied sorry excuse for “protecting the citizens” is healthy, good, or gay-friendly. i cannot wait until someone stands up to them and says “no, you can’t act like this anymore – you are violating our constitutional rights.”

Seriously though, my response was based on the story that they broke in and started hitting. Anywhere I’ve ever lived, when bars were “Raided” for being over crowded, noisy etc… it was always a few police talking to the owner. That was why I made the assumption.