Tag Archives: WFAA

WATCH: Gay popcorn colonel Jon Langbert of University Park takes on the Boy Scouts

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Jon Langbert, the gay University Park father who’s been told he can’t serve in a leadership role in his 9-year-old’s Cub Scout troop, appeared on three local newscasts Monday night (you can watch CBS’ coverage here). Langbert’s message is that it’s 2010, and while a 2000 Supreme Court ruling gave the Scouts the right to discriminate against gays, that doesn’t mean they have to. “They’re out of touch,” Langbert says, adding that he plans to finish out the year as popcorn colonel for his son’s troop. After that, he says he’ll leave it up to his son whether they continue in the Scouts.

WFAA has a poll up on their site asking whether the Boy Scouts should change their policy of excluding gays and atheists from leadership roles. As of this post, 62 percent said the Boy Scouts SHOULD NOT change the policy.

—  John Wright

Gay University Park dad rejected by Boy Scouts says he’ll appear on local newscasts tonight

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Jon Langbert, the gay father who’s been told he can’t be a leader in his 9-year-old son’s Cub Scout troop in University Park, reports that his story will be on three local TV news broadcasts tonight.

“Watch Fox (KDFW-4) at 9 and ABC (WFAA-8) and CBS (KTVT/KTXA-21) news at 10. I hope the reporters ask the Boy Scouts what they want me to tell Carter when he asks why they’re saying his father is a bad role model and must stop wearing the scout shirt they gave him,” Langbert said.

—  John Wright

LGBT activists to raise money, awareness for female workers who’ve sued Dallas Fire-Rescue

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Get Equal Now is planning a “Ribbons and Roses” rally and candlelight vigil for Sunday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in front of Dallas City Hall to show solidarity with female employees of Dallas Fire Rescue who say they have faced harassment and discrimination on the job. And to raise money to pay for the rally, some women will become “kings” when they stage the “King for A Night” drag king fundraising show on Friday, Oct. 15, at 10 p.m. at The Brick.

The show will star C.D. “Jaime Fauxx” Kirven, Elizabeth “Julian” Pax, AB aka Twisher, Laura R. aka Prynce, and more. And if you want to be one of the “more,” just e-mail Kirven at cdkirven@aol.com by Tuesday, Oct. 5.

For more information, check out the “King for A Night” Facebook page. Show up with a copy of the flier below and get into the show free. Fliers will be available at businesses along Cedar Springs Road and at Resource Center Dallas.

—  admin

Public lewdness charge dropped against ex-WFAA anchor Brad Hawkins

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A public lewdness charge against former WFAA anchor Brad Hawkins has been rejected by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, according to Hawkins’ attorney, Peter Schulte.

Hawkins, now a spokesman for Southwest Airlines, was arrested in April following an incident at Flag Pole Hill Park near White Rock Lake.

Schulte told Dallas Voice the DA’s office has elected not to prosecute Hawkins.

“He didn’t commit a crime,” Schulte said, calling it a “false arrest.”

“That conduct as alleged by the police department does not constitute a crime,” Schulte added.

—  John Wright

This is what I consider poor journalism

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If you haven’t already seen this dramatic video of a Pepsi truck crashing on the Tollway, it’s definitely worth a look-see. But what isn’t worth your time is the poor reporting on the WFAA website.

“We now have dramatic video of an 18-wheeler as it careened out of control on the Dallas North Tollway,” the online report says. “The images, provided by a North Texas Tollway Authority traffic camera, show the Pepsi truck driving in the southbound lanes at Beltline Road Wednesday afternoon when a car apparently cut it off. The truck driver over-corrected and crossed the concrete median barrier, ending up on its side sliding in the northbound lanes.” (Emphasis mine.)

As any boob who actually watches the video can see, the accident was totally the car driver’s fault. Yet the reporting makes it seem as if the trucker was. His truck “careen[s] out of control,” as if the driver lost control. From what I can see, he was forced into the median by a speeding sedan that plowed into him twice and blocked his forward movement. In annoyingly PC fashion, the word “apparently” is used as if this report is a court of law where evidence must be proven, instead of a thinking person who can believe what he sees. The car CUTS HIM OFF. Simple as that. And the trucker “over-corrected?” How is having a car force you to the side “over-correcting?” He did all he could — all anyone could — do. Characterizing this accident as WFAA does seems like total disregard for facts and instead devotion to buzzwords. Not cool.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

FWPD apologizes to WFAA for calling report 'incomprehensible' and 'unethical'

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The Fort Worth Police Department issued a press release Friday apologizing to WFAA-TV and producer Chris Guillory for calling their reporting about an April 30 murder near the Rainbow Lounge “incomprehensible and unethical.” WFAA’s original May 1 story has since been removed from the station’s website, but here’s a line from it that I lifted for this blog at the time: “Investigators are not sure of the circumstances that left the unidentified man dead in the parking lot of the business in the 600 block of South Jennings Avenue.”

As it turned out, the man’s body was found in the 500 block of South Cannon Street, a few blocks away, prompting FWPD to slam WFAA in an Editor’s Note for linking the crime to last year’s raid on the gay bar. Now then, here’s Friday’s apology from FWPD:

The FWPD apologizes to WFAA-TV producer, Chris Guillory, and to WFAA-TV for calling their initial coverage of the tragic events of April 30, 2010 “incomprehensible and unethical” as well as “purposefully misleading” and would like to thank WFAA-TV for running a correction to the initial story.

FWPD hereby retracts the above-mentioned statements and suggestions. Although the story posted on WFAA-TV’s web site was attributed to Chris Guillory, FWPD acknowledges that Mr. Guillory was not the reporter at the scene.  Any characterizations about the story attributed to Mr. Guillory are specifically retracted.

FWPD will continue to monitor media characterizations of news events for accuracy and will strive to address inaccuracies in a rapid and professional manner.

As far as I know, we’re the only outlet who published the Editor’s Note, although it presumably was distributed to all media. So for the record, we’re sorry too, WFAA, although I’m pretty sure you can’t sue us.

—  John Wright

Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes resigns

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Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes, who succeeded openly gay Constable Mike Dupree and represents Dallas’ most heavily LGBT neighborhoods, stepped down today amid ongoing civil and criminal investigations of his office. According to WFAA, the District Attorney’s Office planned to subpoena Cortes for a removal hearing on Thursday, but he opted instead to resign late Wednesday afternoon. Cortes was defeated in the April Democratic runoff by Beth Villarreal, who would have taken office in January since there is no Republican in the race. Villarreal will now likely be appointed to the position by the Commissioners Court before then. Brett Shipp has the scoop.

—  John Wright

Unidentified man found beaten to death outside Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth, WFAA reports

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WFAA is reporting that a man was found beaten to death in the parking lot of Fort Worth’s Rainbow Lounge on Friday night.

Investigators are not sure of the circumstances that left the unidentified man dead in the parking lot of the business in the 600 block of South Jennings Avenue.

The Rainbow Lounge, of course, is the gay bar that was the site of last June’s raid by the Fort Worth Police Department and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

We’ll provide more details here as soon as they become available.

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m.: Fort Worth LGBT liaison officer Sara Straten reports that police are currently putting together a press release. Asked whether the incident is gay-related, Straten said investigators aren’t ruling anything out. Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 817-469-8477.

—  John Wright

David Brown is Dallas' next top cop

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It’s official. After WFAA reported last night that Assistant Chief David Brown would be Dallas’ new police chief, then City Manager Mary Suhm denied that she’d offered the job to anyone, “Dallas City Hall” is reporting on its Facebook page today that Brown will indeed take over for the retiring David Kunkle on May 5. So unless someone has hacked into the city’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, we’re assuming it’s true.

I’ve been unable to dig up any info on Brown’s record or views on LGBT issues, but here’s a recent profile from The Dallas Morning News. When I’ve asked LGBT advocates about the police chief selection process over the last few months, they’ve said they trusted Suhm to find someone who is good on our issues.

Foremost among those at this point would be continuing and possibly expanding LGBT diversity training in the department, as well as upholding Kunkle’s recent decision to make the LGBT liaison officer position full-time.

We’ll try to get an interview with Brown in the near future to discuss all this.

—  John Wright

Ex-WFAA anchor Brad Hawkins charged with public lewdness after Flagpole Hill incident

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Brad Hawkins worked as a reporter and anchor for WFAA from 2000 until 2008, when he joined Southwest Airlines.

Former WFAA anchor Brad Hawkins, now a spokesman for Southwest Airlines, was arrested Monday on a charge of public lewdness after an incident at Flag Pole Hill Park, The Dallas Morning News reports. We’ve posted the full police report here. As best I can tell, the 37-year-old Hawkins has been out as gay for at least a few years, which raises the obvious question: What in the hell was he thinking? Anyhow, I’ve contacted Hawkins’ attorney, Pete Schulte, who told me via text message that he’ll be in court and unavailable all day. Here’s what Schulte told The Dallas Morning News: “We believe that Mr. Hawkins is not guilty, and we ask that public opinion be withheld until the facts are known.” Unfortunately, I’m afraid it’s a little late for public opinion to be withheld. The first three gay people I saw this morning asked me, “Hey, did you hear about Brad Hawkins?” Well aren’t we a gossipy bunch? But my other question here is, why is this newsworthy for The Dallas Morning News? Would they treat a straight person being arrested on a class-A misdemeanor charge the same way? I also have concerns about the arrest itself, but I’m told we’re never going to win this argument. Hawkins was arrested after he pressed an undercover officer’s hand, over the clothing, against his erect penis, according to the report. When the officer pulled his hand away, Hawkins said, “Sorry, I just wanted you to know how horney (SIC) you made me, and I wanted to feel your hand so later when I blow I have a thought to go by.” Hawkins then allegedly invited the undercover officer to meet him at his house for sex. Hawkins got on his bicycle and rode away, but police came to his house later and arrested him. Sexual contact, even when it’s over the clothing, has been interpreted as public lewdness by Texas courts. Here’s the definition of public lewdness under the penal code:

§ 21.07 PUBLIC LEWDNESS. (a) A person commits an offense if he knowingly engages in any of the following acts in a public place or, if not in a public place, he is reckless about whether another is present who will be offended or alarmed by his:
(1) act of sexual intercourse;
(2) act of deviate sexual intercourse;
(3) act of sexual contact; or
(4) act involving contact between the person’s mouth or genitals and the anus or genitals of an animal or fowl.

—  John Wright