In the early morning hours of June 28th, 2009, forty years to the day since the Stonewall riots lit a fire in the belly of the GLBT civil rights movement, someone in Texas executed a raid on a new gay bar in Fort   Worth, Texas - The Rainbow Lounge.

It is rumored that the raid was authorized by TABC, but I myself have not yet received confirmation of this. It is traditionally TABC who has the authority to investigate - and police - clubs that serve alcohol, and having met at least one bar owner who was harassed (and arrested) by a TABC officer here in Austin, Tx (the judge dismissed the charges and released her), my educated guess is that TABC is indeed responsible for this raid.

The questions now are:

1) Who authorized this raid, and on what grounds?

2) Why was this raid carried out on the Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots? This is a highly publicized date, as June is Gay Pride Month. The individual responsible would have to be living under a rock not to be a aware of this.

According to The Dallas Voice, a local GLBT newspaper, 15-20 people were arrested for Public Intoxication. As you can see from the photos, some of these folks were still inside the bar. They had not attempted to drive drunk. It was not known if any of these individuals had a designated driver, or plans to hail a cab. Arrests for Public Intoxication, at least here in Austin,  Texas, are executed because the individual leaves the bar overly intoxicated, or because the police receive a complaint.

Let's face it, in Texas, most arrests for Public Intoxication are a result of someone leaving a bar and behaving in an obnoxious manner "in public." Very few such arrests occur inside a bar. Most people *in a bar* are intoxicated to one degree or another. Again, unless the police receive a complaint or observe obnoxious or violent behavior - which was not the case according to bar patrons - arrests conducted by a large group of officers is relatively rare.

Especially officers who arrive equipped with seven police cars and a van specifically designed for hauling off arrestees. This group arrived determined to make arrests. And when they found no cause for arresting these citizens, they made it up as they went along. They came to arrest people. That much is clear. By witness accounts, they used excessive force - that much is also clear.

But here's the rub - it has been reported by the patrons present that at least one of those arrested hadn't even been drinking. And she wasn't the only one. An entertainer who witnessed the arrests reported another incident in which an arrestee was drinking water - and that is all he had been drinking. This wasn't an incident of a TABC officer spot-checking a bar and finding a patron who had been served too much alcohol. This was a raid. This was an example of someone in authority exercising their office in an abusive manner.

And someone needs to answer for that. Someone needs to explain why a newly opened Gay bar was raided on the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots. They need to answer for who requested, and who authorized this raid, and on what grounds.

They need to explain why excessive force and intimidation was observed by bar patrons. They also need to explain why it has been reported "that one patron was slammed to the floor and is now in ICU at JPS." (Dallas Voice).

The Fort Worth Police Department, the Forth Worth City Council and Mayor's Office, and the TABC have a lot of explaining to do. This does not strike me as coincidence. And while it is unfair to blame the entire City and State structure for this one incident, it is entirely fair to demand to know how, in this day and age, this incident came about.

Who was responsible? Who instigated this event? And above all, why? Why this bar? Why on this particular date? Motive is everything, in any human endeavor. I, personally, want to know the motive behind the individual who requested permission to conduct this raid. I, and especially the people who were harassed in this event, deserve an answer.

**photos by Chuck Potter, who was present at the time of the raid.