TABC settlements bring ‘closure’

Tom Anable

Fairness Fort Worth president says payments to Gibson, Armstrong fair; TABC spokeswoman says agency is happy with mediated settlements

JOHN WRIGHT | Online Editor
wright@dallasvoice.com

Two years and one month after the Rainbow Lounge raid, Fort Worth’s LGBT community finally has some closure, according to the president of an advocacy group formed in response to the incident.

Last week it was reported that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission had reached monetary settlements with two patrons injured in the June 2009 raid of the gay bar, which occurred on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion.

Chad Gibson, who suffered a serious head injury in the raid, will receive $210,000 from TABC. George Armstrong, who suffered a torn rotator cuff, will receive $15,000.

The city of Fort Worth, whose police officers conducted the raid along with TABC agents, previously settled with Gibson for $400,000 and with Armstrong for $40,000.

“It closes all the legal issues, and the damage issues,” Fairness Fort Worth President Tom Anable said this week of the TABC settlement. “It’s closure in regards to the Rainbow Lounge incident.

“It’s all done and closed,” Anable added. “We have closure and we’re moving forward with other issues.”

TABC fired two agents and a supervisor after the raid, and FWPD suspended three officers.

“Fort Worth ran the operation. Fort Worth was in charge of the operation,” Anable said. “TABC fired employees, and Fort Worth gave some wrist slaps, so I think it was appropriate they [Fort Worth] paid more money.”

Carolyn Beck

TABC spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said her agency’s settlements with Gibson and Armstrong were agreed to during mediation in March, but had to be signed off on by the offices of the attorney general and the governor.

“Those approvals came through in June, and so here we are now,” said Beck, who was named the agency’s liaison to the LGBT community following the raid. “We are happy that we were able to come to an agreement with mediation, and I personally feel like our relationship with the LGBT community is a lot different than it was two years ago. And I hope that it continues to stay positive.”

After the raid, TABC became the first state agency in Texas to conduct comprehensive LGBT diversity training for its employees.

Don Tittle, the Dallas attorney who represented both Armstrong and Gibson, didn’t respond to a phone message from Dallas Voice this week.

But Tittle told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “It is done. They are very relieved. I think they feel that they received a level of justice, although it was slow. The monetary compensation was fair, but I think it was important to both of them that there be change within both organizations. As a result of the incident, both Fort Worth and TABC have taken affirmative steps to improve relations and to be more sensitive to diversity.”

via dallasvoice.com

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Christian camps lead to misconceptions about gay lifestyles

Homosexual men were told they were “golden children” before being “infected with gay” at a 48-hour straight conversion camp in Arizona, undercover journalist Ted Cox said on Monday at the School of Education.

Cox spoke to more than 100 students about masculinity in the Bible, the overall failure of gay to straight conversion camps and the non-medical evidence supporting them in a lecture sponsored by the Humanists of Boston University.

At the straight camp Journey Into Manhood, homosexuality was considered a disease that manifests in children with overbearing mothers and deadbeat fathers, Cox said.

A popular conversion therapy exercise was “healing-touch therapy,” Cox said. The counselor would pretend to be a father figure and console a camper as he sits between the counselor’s legs and leans backward with other campers’ arms reaching out toward him.

“As I was being held in the motorcycle position, the counselor was whispering into my ear, ‘very long ago, you were hurt, and you put up walls to protect yourself,’” Cox said.

In another exercise, campers were given a bat to hit a punching bag, which was understood to be their fathers.

“We’re going to give you a message from a new father, a father who does love and care for you. You need to get rid of your old father, so swing away,” Cox said counselors would say of God.

Heredity, hetero-emotional wounds, body image wounds, non-athleticism as a child and a passion for art are falsely considered other causes of homosexuality by anti-homosexual church groups such as Exodus International, Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, the International Healing Foundation and Courage, Cox said.

George Rekers, a former officer of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, was caught on vacation with a male prostitute, Cox said.

Cox said contradictory to the information sold at most gay to straight camps, the Bible has no exact words concerning homosexuality.

“Churches [and the Bible] are more concerned with male sexuality and male gender dominance,” Cox said, referring to the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Despite what some church groups insist about orientation, Cox said most homosexuals leave the camp and still lead gay lives.

“What’s interesting is that academic studies who have looked into ex-gay programs…say that the vast majority of the people in the programs do leave,” Cox said.

Cox said students help by becoming more aware of challenges facing the LGBTQ community.

“Speak up, learn about these issues and don’t be afraid to say something,” Cox said. “One of the best things you can do if you are a member of the LGBT community is come out.”

Students said they appreciated Cox’s work and were also shocked by his stories.

“I think it was great that a straight person is going out and taking initiative and making sure that everyone gets the word out,” said Dan Mello, a School of Management sophomore.

“I was shocked at the number of organizations that there are that think that they can cure homosexuality, and I guess I was a little bit shocked at how forward and honest he was about his opinions,” said SED junior Ethan Pravetz.

 

via dailyfreepress.com

Jerry says:
June 11, 2011 at 6:34 pm
“At the straight camp Journey Into Manhood, homosexuality was considered a disease that manifests in children with overbearing mothers and deadbeat fathers, Cox said.” This is totally ridiculous. Does anyone else see a massive fallacy in that statement? haha makes me chuckle. Thanks for the share.

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