Will Fort Worth Embrace Equal Rights ?

A few weeks ago, the Fort Worth Police Department and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) conducted an ill-advised and poorly carried out raid on a new gay bar called the Rainbow Lounge (pictured). The raid was little more than homophobic harassment, and violated established policies of both departments.

After that ridiculous event, the Fort Worth City Council appointed a task force to make recommendations on how the city could improve relations with the gay and lesbian community. That task force has made four recommendations they think the city should adopt. These are:

- Extend domestic-partner benefits to gay (and lesbian) couples.

- Consider a company's record on gay and lesbian issues when granting tax breaks.

- Include gender reassignment surgery in the city's health insurance plan.

- Train city employees on dealing with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Personally, I think these are very sensible suggestions that should be adopted by the city as soon as possible. I'm sure there are some right-wingers that will claim this gives homosexuals "special" rights. That is just not true. What it will do is ensure they have the same rights that everyone else already has.

The city council has not even discussed the recommendations, much less voted on them, but the right-wingers are already coming unhinged at the thought of equal rights being granted to all citizens. They think their religion gives them permission to have more rights than homosexuals.

But we must never forget that these same kind of religious right-wingers once used the same religious beliefs to defend slavery and racial separation, and to deny equal rights to women. We are a secular society governed by a Constitution that guarantees equal rights for all citizens, and we must never give in to religious beliefs that place one group more equal than another group -- no matter how these groups are defined.

One right-winger, Tarrant County Republican Chairwoman Stephanie Klick, even had the temerity to suggest that the recommendations should be voted down because of city "budget problems". Is this woman too deaf to hear the stupidity flowing from her mouth? Since when are equal rights determined by a city, state or federal budget? Money should never be a consideration in determining to do the right thing.

Kelly Shackelford, of the Liberty Legal Institute (that supports fundie creationism), says the recommendations are unconstitutional because a 2005 amendment to the Texas Constitution says "marriage is between a man and a woman". That might be a good point if the recommendations had anything to do with marriage -- but they don't. This concerns equal rights, and not marriage rights.

In fact, at least three other Texas cities already offer health insurance to gay and lesbian domestic partners. These cities are Dallas, Austin and El Paso. They don't seem to have run afoul of any constitutional prohibitions.

It is time for Fort Worth to step up and do the right thing. Basic fairness and equal rights are too important in a constitutional democracy to be denied to any group for any reason.