Fort Worth Police Seek Information on Attacks Near Rainbow Lounge
Posted By Zendeh Del Law on May 6, 2010 12:03pm PDT
Fort Worth Criminal Defense Law Firm
Fort Worth police are asking victims of assaults near the Rainbow Lounge, a well known gay bar, to come forward.
Fairness Fort Worth, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, is distributing via its Facebook page a message from Fort Worth police community liaison officer Sara Straten.
In it, she says the police are "attempting to locate anyone that has been robbed, 'rolled' or otherwise assaulted by a WHITE MALE in the general area of Rainbow Lounge."
Straten's message did not say whether the plea from police was related to the beating death last week of a 72-year-old man who was found in a vehicle two blocks from the Rainbow Lounge. Police have said the motive in that crime appeared to be robbery, and that the death was not believed to be connected to the gay bar.
"This [request for information about other assaults] may or may not relate to current investigations that are ongoing," the officer wrote. She added: "[W]hile I cannot discuss much at this point, I will the second that I have information that I can talk about."
The Rainbow Lounge made worldwide headlines last summer, when agents of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Fort Worth police officers raided the bar and, according to patrons' complaints, used excessive force in rounding up people accused of public intoxication. One man wound up being sent to a hospital emergency room with a severe head injury. [See our previous post
TABC Fires Agents Over Rainbow Lounge Raid.]
The raid was particularly galling to gay rights groups, since it occurred on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a series of demonstrations against a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn, a bar in New York City's Greenwich Village that catered to gay patrons. The Stonewall Riots are often cited as a defining event in the rise of the American gay rights movement.
Straten's job as Fort Worth police liaison to the gay community was created in the aftermath of the Rainbow Lounge raid.
In appealing to assault victims to come forward, she alluded to what may be lingering mistrust of the police by some gay citizens.
"I understand there may be community members that for one reason or another did not make a police report at the time of the offense," she wrote. "We NEED to talk to ANYONE who may have information on these crimes. ... We need to work together on this..."