On June 28, 2009, I was in New York City with approximately one million other people. We were in New York City to mark the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a New York City Police Department (NYPD) raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village (in New York City). The Stonewall Riots are considered the birth of the modern gay and lesbian civil rights movement.
On June 28, 2009, the same day we were marking the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the Fort Worth Police Department and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission tried to reenact the failed NYPD raid on the Stonewall Inn. As there is no Stonewall Inn in Fort Worth, Taxes, they raided the Rainbow Lounge, a Fort Worth gay bar that had been open for approximately two weeks. They made a series of questionable arrests for public intoxication. More importantly, these law enforcement officials physically attacked bar patrons. It appears they deliberately went looking to beat up and arrest the patrons without cause. One patron, Chad Gibson, has been charged with public intoxication. He is suffering from a head injury after being attacked by five law enforcement officials and he may not survive.
Owing to the wonders of the Internet and cell phone cameras, this incident has been reported and documented. An excellent account of this incident can be found at: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/06/30/fort-worth-police-chief-that-faggot-had-it-coming
Judging from the numerous misleading statements made by the Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD), as well as the misleading statements made by the Chief of the FWPD and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), I have little faith that justice will be done in this case. The FWPD and TABC have launched their own “investigations.” Maybe they will conduct complete and through investigations. So far, both the FWPD and TABC seem more interested in public relations and lying about what they did.
The FWPD and TABC now want us to believe that after they went into a gay bar and without provocation violently attacked bar patrons, then lied about the attacks; that the very same people who they attacked should go to the very same FWPD and TABC that attacked them and swear out statements against the FWPD and TABC officers. They want the victims to believe that their complaints will be taken seriously, will be fairly investigated, and that FWPD and TABC officers will not retaliate against them after the make charges against FWPD and TABC officers.
I suspect there will not be an investigation by either the FWPD or the TABC. I suspect there will be a whitewashing of the incident and the whitewashing will be called a “complete and thorough investigation.” I suspect that being Fort Worth is run by politicians who will want to be re-elected, the FWPD will find a scapegoat to blame the incident on. The scapegoat will probably be the TABC. I suspect there will not be any criminal prosecutions of the FWPD or TABC officers who attacked the patrons on the grounds that no one was willing to come forward given the situation I described in the preceding paragraph. I suspect that no FWPD or TABC officers will be disciplined. I suspect the FWPD and TABC will prosecute bar patrons in an attempt to publicly justify their outrageous conduct during a ridiculous bar raid, a bar raid that appears to have the sole purpose of intimidation of the gay community in Texas, especially Fort Worth, Texas.
This brings me to Leviticus 19:16, which states: “You shall not stand by [the shedding of] your fellow's blood. I am the L-rd.”
<http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9920/showrashi/true>
Rashi the great Torah commentator explains, “I am the L-rd” as follows:
I am the Lord: faithful to pay reward [to those who heed the above warnings], and faithful to exact punishment [upon those who transgress them].
<http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9920/showrashi/true>
The question is not if we are supposed to stand by while this blood is shed, but how we are supposed to this outrageous attack. Leviticus 19:16 demands that we do something.
The answer is before the US Congress. The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act has been languishing in the US Senate. Those bigots who hate, including some members of the clergy and some members of Congress, have lied about this proposed law and its consequences. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) went so far as to lie about Matthew Shepard’s death and make cruel insensitive remarks in front of the dead child’s mother, Judy Shepard.
The fact of the matter is that the FWPD and TABC have proven in shed blood that local law enforcement cannot be trusted. If the victims of this attack are to see justice (“Justice, justice shall you pursue” – Deuteronomy16: 20), it is imperative that federal law enforcement be empowered to launch a complete investigation of this and other incidents. The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act would give the federal government the authority to investigate incidents such as the one at the Rainbow Lounge. Sadly, this needed legislation is stalled in the US Senate. I call upon you to contact the President, your two Senators and your Representative and demand that they push for immediate passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909). I call upon you to demand that the FBI launch an independent investigation into this unprovoked attack.
An excellent statement in support of this important legislation can be found at: http://forum.themonastery.org/index.php?showtopic=5936.
Your congressional delegation can be reached at 202-224-3121 or at http://www.house.gov/ and http://senate.gov/. The White House can be reached at 202-456-1414 or at http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/.
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