City of Fort Worth, TX Task Force Update- Reference “The Rainbow Lounge Incident” 2010

The Fort Worth Task Force was set up to advise the city manager on issues affecting the (LBGT) community following the incident at the Rainbow Lounge in 2010. The recommendations are as follows:

1. Provide four hours of appropriate training for all city employees.
2. Provide appropriate training for elected and appointed officials.
3. Post non-discrimination language on all job notices and application forms.
4. Ask Police Chief to provide potential recruits with a letter of support for a diverse police force that includes LBGT officers.
5. Provide all employees with equal access to all employee benefits.
6. Authorize family medical leave for LBGT employees with domestic partners.
7. Provide health insurance coverage for treatments of gender identity disorder.
8. Assist interested employees in forming LBGT support groups.
9. Prohibit discrimination on basis of gender identity or gender expression.
10. Seek state legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender expression.
11. Support the passage of federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
12. Develop and implement an educational campaign to increase awareness of Fort Worth anti discrimination ordinances.
13. Use public events to promote Fort Worth as an inclusive community.
14. Use appropriate media to communicate more effectively with LBGT citizens.
15. Reward businesses that provide equal benefits to all employees.
16. Develop and implement marketing and outreach campaign to attract LBGT conventions, visitors and public events.
17. Urge local hospitals to participate in the Equality Index survey.
18. Require contracts with city vendors to state explicitly that failure to comply with anti discrimination ordinances constitutes contract violation.
19. Include North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce as cooperating agency in annual updates of the Fort Worth Comprehensive Plan.
20. Hold quarterly meetings of Diversity Task Force to
monitor implementation of Task Force recommendations and advice Fort Worth City Managers accordingly.

Fairness Fort Worth, is instrumental in working with City Leaders to protect the civil rights of the LBGT community.

The Dallas based Cathedral of Hope, known as the largest gay and lesbian church issued a statement related to the Raid of the Rainbow by contacting the Chief of Police Jeffrey Halstead by phone and demanding a report and public apology immediately regarding the incident at the Rainbow Lounge. The Cathedral of Hope, a congregation of the United Church of Christ, is based in Dallas, TX and is the the worlds largest liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Local and national church ministries, outreach programs, pastoral Counselling, television media, and the internet- www.cathedralofhope.com touches thousands of lives everyday.

Fairness Fort Worths current endeavors include:
Educating federal, state, and local law enforcement officials LBGT issues including anti- bullying programs in area schools. The goal of Fairness Fort Worth is to confront problems and help others in the community to find a way to work together and overcome harassment and bullying.

In 2000, Fort Worth attorney John Nelson said, Fort Worth became the fourth city in Texas to pass an ordinance banning anti- gay discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations within the city limits. The groups has long term plans of bringing together a broad-based coalition of community, civic and government leaders to facilitate communication and cooperation between the different segments of the city to keep incidents similar to the Rainbow Lounge from ever happening again.

On June 27, 2012 Fort Worth a Mayor Betsy Price issued a statement saying she has no plans to sign a same sex pledge to support gay marriage. Although Price is a Republican, she expressed support for the LBGT community during her campaign and served as a grand Marshall of the Tarrant County Gay Pride Parade in October. “I remain focused on the business of the City of Fort Worth,” Price said in a statement. “The issue of same sex marriages is one for the state, not local government .”

If you wish to make a donation to Fairness Fort Worth- please visit their website www.fairnessfortworth.org