Rainbow Lounge Update

As more reports and eyewitness accounts surface, the more we know about what happened on Saturday night when Fort Worth Police and TABC officers raided the Rainbow Lounge, a newly-minted gay bar.

According to a statement released by the Fort Worth police, the Rainbow Lounge roundup and inspection was one of three that occurred Saturday evening. What is not clear in the statement, however, and this seems to be more than a small point, is how many patrons were arrested. Was it seven? Was it nine?

The statement is full of gay panic (again, to reference history, not an uncommon feature found in reports about prior raids on gay bars), with intoxicated patrons allegedly making sexual gestures and groping officers.

Here's what's funny/depressing:

In all my years of going to gay bars I have never been randomly groped by anyone. Oh, except for that policeman I met this one time…

Meanwhile multiple ground reports claim that the patrons under arrest were not visibly intoxicated. That the force used by police officers was excessive and cruel. One patron, Chad Gibson, is under hospital supervision and may need brain surgery to remove a growing blood clot.

Senior editor Tammye Nash at the Dallas Voice has been posting updates on their Instant Tea blog. The story has been picked up all over – gay bloggers (Towleroad), local papers (Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News) and even national outlets like CNN have posted video reports from yesterday's protests.

Equality Texas has released a call to action for Texans looking to get involved.

California may have repealed gay marriage, but what have we got to show for ourselves in Texas? A bunch of officers needlessly arresting gay patrons on a historically significant day? A man with life-threatening head trauma? Thanks for confirming what the rest of the country thinks about Texas anyway, FW police.