Fort Worth officials tout changes after controversial bar raid

A year has passed since the controversial raid of a Fort Worth gay bar, and officials maintain their communication and relationship with the city's LGBT residents since the incident is at an all-time high.

In the months after the Fort Worth Police Department raided the Rainbow Lounge on June 28, 2009, it scrambled to revise its bar inspection policies and procedure. It also formed diversity training classes for all its new recruits and field officers, in addition to hiring a full-time liaison officer to handle communications with Fort Worth's LGBT residents.

As EDGE previously reported, the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission fired its two agents who were involved for procedural violations, disciplined several administrators and changed its policies on conducting bar checks. The FWPD also suspended three officers who took part in the raid.

Sarah Straten, an openly lesbian officer the department appointed as its LGBT liaison, told EDGE the FWPD has opened lines of communication that weren't there before.

"If something's going on and they want to meet with the chief they usually just call me and we get that done pretty quick," she said. "We call them; they call us... Communication is key and we clearly didn't have that before, but we do now."

Randy Norman, general manager of Rainbow Lounge, agreed.

"Our relationship with Chief [Jeffrey] Halstead and the Fort Worth police is fantastic," Norman told nbcdfw.com. "It's been a roller coaster, but it's turned out to be really good."

The FWPD's diversity training stems from the raid. Straten explained after the incident, Halstead ramped up formation of sensitivity training classes that included instruction from members of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance. The TABC itself also made changes-Regional Capt. Charlie Could explained his agency is now a better one.

"We've done training at the Rainbow Lounge; we've actually gone to Rainbow Lounge and sat down with their employees," he said. "We've never really had the communications with Rainbow Lounge and those types of locations until after this event."

While he is also aware a raid like the one that took place at the Rainbow Lounge should have never happened, he said the silver lining remains educational trainings and policy changes.

"Do I wish it hadn't happened? You bet I wish it hadn't happened. Was it a pain? Yes ma'am it was a pain," Could explained. "We ate, slept and breathed the Rainbow Lounge for months after that. It created a media feeding frenzy, but I'm glad about where we are now."

Blake Wilkinson, founder of Queer Liberaction, the group that organized several post-raid protests, agreed.

"I think there's a lot of increased visibility and the GLBT community has gained some confidence by what's happened and by the response," he said. "It proved in the very least there have been procedural changes, but also in that even if the procedural changes are pretty weak, they're at least a nod to our community as some recognition."

Two TABC agents and several Fort Worth police officers conducted what they described as a routine bar check at the Rainbow Lounge on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The raid resulted in several arrests and the hospitalization of patron Chad Gibson, who incurred serious head injuries and bleeding on the brain and spent a week in intensive care. The incident sparked widespread outrage among local LGBT residents and activists throughout the Metroplex and around the country.

And while officials from the FWPD and TABC tout their organizational changes, Wilkinson said many local LGBT residents remain fearful.

"I think that at the end of the day, the culture in Fort Worth is still very conservative there's still a lot of fear," he said.

Prosecutors in February charged Gibson and another Rainbow Lounge patron who were arrested during the raid. The two men pleaded not guilty in municipal court to misdemeanor charges and intoxication and assault of a TABC agent.