As lunchtime rolls around, think about how tasty stir fry is when the proceeds go toward a good cause.
If you’re in Fort Worth today or feel like taking a long lunch, head over to the Genghis Grill at 4469 Bryant Irvin Road in Cowtown.
Orders for dine-in and take out from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. will have 20 percent of the proceeds donated to AIDS Outreach Center.
Just mention AOC when you check out and the percentage will be donated to the organization. You can also order online.
We’re sorry to hear that Fort Worth club Percussions Lounge closed its doors last Wednesday. This was posted on the club’s Facebook page. However, owner Randy Norman says that it really was just a matter of location.
“People didn’t really want to walk that far out and it never has really taken off,” Norman said.
Instead, Norman is focusing on his two more popular spots — Rainbow Lounge and Best Friends. That was part of the deal when he took over most of the gay bar scene in Fort Worth.
“I wanna get those built up, but we are also looking for another location for Percussions and we’re trying to see what we can find, but yeah, the focus now will be on Rainbow and Best Friends.”
Carlos Vasquez, left, and Lon Burnam
The race between state Rep. Lon Burnam and openly gay Fort Worth school board member Carlos Vasquez in House District 90 is heating up, according to the Star-Telegram.
According to the report, Vasquez called fellow school board members traitors after the board replaced its first Hispanic president with its first black president.
Burnam said that Vasquez “cannot behave well in public” and would not work well in the Legislature.
Vasquez accused Burnam of talking too much about environmental issues and not about the issues constituents care about. He also said that Burnam is targeting the district’s black community with robocalls.
The district was redrawn to be majority Hispanic.
The insults continued with Vasquez accusing Burnam of not campaigning hard enough for President Barack Obama in 2008. But Vasquez then revealed that he first supported Hillary Clinton while Burnam said he was always an Obama supporter.
Early voting began today and runs 12 days through May 25. Early voting locations are listed here on the Dallas County Elections website. Tarrant County locations are available here.
Primary day is May 29.
Former Rainbow Lounge manager and owner of Randy’s Club Cherries, Randy Norman has made his big move in Fort Worth. He is reportedly the new owner of the Rainbow Lounge, Best Friends Club and Percussions Lounge all in Cowtown. This comes from the Dallas Gay Bars website. We spoke with Norman this afternoon and his sights are set on getting Fort Worth clubs to a high standard. Sensing some decline in the clubs’ upkeep, Norman took action.
FORT WORTH — Black Tie Dinner kicked off the season with a reception at the T&P railroad building in Fort Worth on Thursday night.
BTD Co-Chairs Mitzi Lemons and Chris Kouvelis announced the theme for this year’s dinner — “An Affair of the Heart.”
“‘An Affair of the Heart’ is exactly what Black Tie Dinner is,” Kouvelis said. “Thousands of people coming together solely to make a difference in the lives of so many.”
Holding the event in Fort Worth was a first for the dinner committee. The location was the lobby of the restored train station that has been renovated into lofts and is the western terminus for the Trinity Railway Express that originates at Union Station in Dallas.
About 250 people attended.
The 31st Black Tie Dinner will be held on Nov. 3 at the Sheraton Dallas.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM THE PREMIERE
For the first half hour of Thursday night’s premiere in Fort Worth of Robert Camina’s documentary Raid of the Rainbow Lounge, the audience sat completely still and silent. Many were in tears as they relived the horror of the raid. Among those in the audience was Chad Gibson, who was injured in the raid and later settled with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the city of Fort Worth for more than $600,000.
Not until attorney Jon Nelson rebutted Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead’s assertion that it wasn’t a raid with the comment, “If it walks like a raid and quacks like a raid, it’s a raid,” did the audience break out into applause.
While Nelson was applauded the most through the film, raid witness Todd Camp got the most laughs. His first was when he described the police officers who claimed in their report that the officers were groped during the raid as having a “Village People fixation.”
Halstead is the “character” in the film that evolves most. The week of the raid, he’s seen reading from his officers’ report and defending his department. He said the comments of one woman at the first city council meeting after the raid affected him the most. She had driven from San Francisco to speak. He said he wondered what could have affected someone so much that she decided to drive halfway across the country to speak for three minutes and then turn around and drive back home. At that moment, he began to understand the frustration and anger of the community.
Mayor Mike Moncrief is the person who comes across the worst on film. He appears to have been cornered into making an apology that anyone in the city was hurt. Unlike Halstead, he did not appear in an on-camera interview in the film.
After the film, Halstead, who attended the premiere, again apologized for offending the community with his initial reaction and said that his department has changed. He said that within weeks of the raid, three male officers came out to him.
Halstead told the audience that when a similar raid happened in Atlanta 10 weeks later, he got a call from the acting chief in that city.
“Jeff, help me,” Atlanta’s chief said.
Halstead said that the atmosphere in the Fort Worth Police Department is completely different now than it was less than three years ago. When a rookie class is training, he said he enjoys introducing Sara Straten, the city’s first LGBT community liaison, by saying, “This is Sara. She’s a lesbian.” He said the reaction is always, “Did he really just say that?”
But he said that the raid has made a difference in training on a variety of issues including how officers respond to domestic violence calls.
Meredith Baxter, who narrated the film, spoke briefly at the premiere about how she became involved: A lot of nagging from Fairness Fort Worth President Tom Anable.
The film will be shown in Dallas at the Magnolia Theater on April 25. Tickets are available at RaidoftheRainbowLounge.com.
Isaiah Smith, left, collecting signatures in Keller. (Screen grab from KDAF Channel 33)
KELLER — Sixteen-year-old Isaiah Smith wants Keller Mayor Pat McGrail to join the mayors of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and several smaller cities in Texas by signing Freedom to Marry’s pledge in support of same-sex marriage.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price have declined to sign the pledge, which now contains the signatures of more than 150 mayors nationwide.
Smith said he’ll be at Keller City Hall this afternoon to address city officials at the the regularly scheduled council meeting. Smith is a junior at Keller High School, but he said he’s not acting on behalf of his school’s Gay Straight Alliance. He said he’s going to City Hall with just one other friend and thinks his mayor should do the right thing.
“I’ll be giving a speech on why he should sign,” Smith told Instant Tea.
McGrail would become the first North Texas mayor to sign, if he listens to his young constituent.
Smith has also been collecting signatures on a petition calling for the council to pass an ordinance outlawing discrimination in restaurants in the city. He will present the petition to the City Council later this month.
Last week in a statewide day of action, callers contacted Rawlings to keep up the pressure to sign the pledge.
Time to plan that date night as we have tickets to giveaway for the opening of Rent in Fort Worth. The Casa Manana team is offering Dallas Voice readers a chance to win tickets to the March 3 performance. We just need to know how much you like the show. Email us with Pay my Rent! in the subject line and include name, phone number (only to notify winners), and your absolute fave song from the musical.
This one’s my favorite because I kill it in the car every time. Just sayin’.
Rent plays at Casa Mañana Theatre, 3101 West Lancaster Ave. in Fort Worth and runs through March 11.
Meredith Baxter and Robert Camina
Robert Camina announced that the premiere of his documentary film Raid of the Rainbow Lounge will be held on March 15 at the AMC Palace 9 in Sundance Square in Downtown Fort Worth.
Meredith Baxter, who narrates the film, and Camina will be in attendance.
The film documents the events that happened at the newly opened Rainbow Lounge when Fort Worth police and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission raided the bar on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion.
Camina uploaded a new trailer for the film. Watch it below.
