Edmund White writes of the Crisco-Slathered Gay 70's in City Boy

City Boy, Edmund White's new memoir of life in New York around the time of Stonewall gets a review in the NYT.

Writes White: "I was a living contradiction. I was still a self-hating gay man going to a straight psychotherapist with the intention of getting cured and getting married. There was no ‘gay pride’ back then — there was only gay fear and gay isolation and gay distrust and gay self-hatred."

From Dwight Garner's review:

Orgies; leather bars; tabs of LSD; sex on the balconies of gay dance halls, in the abandoned piers along the Hudson River and in the dunes on Fire Island; group sex with American Indians and Norwegian flight attendants from Minnesota — it’s all here in exacting and eye-popping detail. He captures the “odor of brew, harness, sweat and Crisco” that began to fill gay men’s nostrils in the mid-’70s.

Mr. White was a kind of sexual werewolf. As midnight approached, he says, “my hands began to sprout hair, and my teeth to sharpen.” He sleeps with so many well-known writers and artists that this crackling if lightweight memoir can read less like a prelude to “And the Band Played On,” Randy Shilts’s stately book about the early days of AIDS, than an all-boy update of “I’m With the Band,” Pamela Des Barres‘s trippy and picaresque rock groupie memoir.

He describes a quickie with the travel writer Bruce Chatwin here; a three-way with the poet John Ashbery there. The notches Mr. White claims on his bedpost are vast and crisscrossing, and he likes to run his fingers along them in wistful horndog memory.

Sounds like a page-turner.

Also of note: Marriage equality supporter and devoted fan John Irving supplies the book's cover blurb: "A wise and humane treatise on the delicate differences between love and friendship."

City Boy [amazon]

Agents on Desk Duty After Raid; Vigil Held at Fort Worth Gay Bar

As outrage across the nation grows, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission says two agents involved in the arrest of Chad Gibson, who sustained traumatic head injuries following a raid late Saturday night at the Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth, Texas, have been placed on desk duty while an internal investigation is being conducted. ... A photo shows the TABC agents on top of him on the floor. No Fort Worth officers are visible. Witnesses also said there was a struggle after he was escorted outside the bar when at least one TABC agent tried to hold him down. Investigators are looking into the possibility Gibson's injury occurred when he fell outside the bar."

More than 200 people attended a vigil for Gibson outside the Rainbow Lounge last night. Footage of last night's vigil, AFTER THE JUMP...

And CBS11 reports: "State Senator Wendy Davis and State Representative Lon Burnam want an investigation, too. In a joint statement they said, 'It is our hope that an objective, outside investigation be made which would examine internal investigation reports of both the Fort Worth Police Department and the TABC, as well as eye witness accounts.'"

A group of private citizens is calling for an independent investigation.

While Gibson's condition is improving, doctors told him "he'd have headaches for two years."

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead has used a classic "gay panic" excuse for the officers' roughness at the bar, saying he was "happy" with how it was handled: "Monday, police chief Jeff Halstead said the officers' actions are being investigated. However, he also said that officers that entered the bar during the scheduled inspection were touched inappropriately. 'You're touched and advanced in certain ways by people inside the bar, that's offensive,' he said. 'I'm happy with the restraint used when they were contacted like that.'"

But, "Rainbow Lounge patrons said authorities grabbed people or shoved them onto the ground. They have denied police claims that anyone groped or made lewd gestures toward officers."

Following the outrage, Halstead is now adopting a different tone: "We’ve got to work together. Be patient, and you will see that this is just not lip service. I will meet with you wherever you want to meet. I will go to your restaurants, your house, we can eat barbecue, whatever you want to do. But we’ve got to talk. We will heal beyond this."

Here are more details from a public forum held on Tuesday night at Buzzbrews in Dallas.

Footage of last night's vigil, AFTER THE JUMP...

Candlelight Vigil Planned as Police Chief Floats 'Gay Panic' Defense in Violent Bar Raid in Fort Worth, Texas

Here's an update on activity following the Stonewall-style raid on the recently-opened Rainbow Lounge bar in Fort Worth, Texas which resulted in seven arrests for "public intoxication" and a massive head injury to one of the patrons of the bar.

Tonight, there is a candlelight vigil at 8:30 pm at the Rainbow Lounge (651 South Jennings Ave), where the raid occurred, in honor of injured victim Chad Gibson (more on his condition below). Gibson's arrest pictured, below right.

Gibson's mother speaks out, AFTER THE JUMP...

Here's the sickest bit of news about it I've read so far, a statement by Fort Worth police chief Jeff Halstead (via Dan Savage): "Monday, police chief Jeff Halstead said the officers' actions are being investigated. However, he also said that officers that entered the bar during the scheduled inspection were touched inappropriately. 'You're touched and advanced in certain ways by people inside the bar, that's offensive,' he said. 'I'm happy with the restraint used when they were contacted like that.'"

Read that last sentence again. As Savage translates: "Them faggots in that thar bar touched mah officers and now they're complainin' about some rough stuff and one little ol' faggot with a brain injury? Those perverts should be grateful they're alive."

Classic gay panic defense.

The Fort Worth Police also say that Gibson, at the time of his arrest, was in the custody of a State Police officer, not one of the FWPD.

The Rainbow Lounge Raid's Facebook page is growing at a steady rate. An article in the Star-Telegram highlights new media's role in getting the word out about this incident.

Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem Kathleen Hicks has called for an immediate and comprehensive investigation:

"I join with Councilman Joel Burns in wanting all citizens of Texas and Fort Worth to know and be assured that the laws and ordinances of our City will be applied fairly, equally and without selective enforcement or targeting. As an African American I understand the distrust and fear that grows throughout a community when the belief that there is no recourse or protection is allowed to grow and fester."

Equality Texas has demanded that Mayor Moncrief and all Fort Worth City Council members call for an investigation. They have provided a FORM LETTER that will be sent to municipal officals.

An update on Chad Gibson, the man who sustained a head injury during the raid, from his sister Kristy Morgan:

"Kristy said the most recent CAT scans have shown that the blood clot on Chad’s brain has stopped growing, which is good news, but he is not out of the woods yet. She said doctors told the family that as long as the clot remains — whether it is growing or not — there is the chance that all or some of it could break loose and cause severe damage or death, or that the bleeding could start up again. At this point, Kristy said, doctors are not talking about having to do surgery to repair the bleed or remove the clot. They believe that the clot will eventually dissolve and be reabsorbed into the body, but that could take anywhere from six months to two years. Chad will likely be hospitalized at least for the rest of this week, and will then have to have follow-up appointments and consultations with a neurosurgeon."

Chad Gibson's mother speaks out, AFTER THE JUMP...

There was a public forum with Fort Worth Police Department chief Halstead:

"After the meeting had started, Chief Halstead announced that the director of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission had just issued a statement acknowledging that Chad Gibson, who has been hospitalized with a head injury since the incident, was injured while in the custody of TABC agents. Chief Halstead said that determining who was responsible for Gibson’s injury has been the priority of his department’s investigation so far. Now that that is settled, the chief said, the focus for his department will turn to getting as much information as possible regarding the actions of FWPD officers during the incident. To that end, he is asking that anyone and everyone who was at the bar that night and was an eyewitness to the events contact Capt. Garcia at 817-392-4270 to give their account. He said it is vital to a thorough investigation to get as much information as possible from those who were there."

Chad Gibson's mother speaks out, AFTER THE JUMP...

Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach Discusses White House LGBT Event

Didn't get a chance to post this earlier today but Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach appeared on yesterday's Rachel Maddow show (with the excellent Alison Stewart as her substitution) in a segment about Stonewall and Obama's White House LGBT reception. Fehrenbach discusses his meeting with the President.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Police Deny Targeting Gays in Violent Fort Worth, TX Bar Raid

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead tells the Star-Telegram that police officers did not target the Rainbow Lounge, a gay nightclub, because of the sexuality of its customers or the date (the 40th anniversary of Stonewall), calling it a "routine bar inspection."

Seven were arrested for public intoxication and one person remains hospitalized for a head injury which may yet require surgery.

The paper reports: "Some customers made 'sexually explicit motions,' according to a police statement, and one grabbed an officer’s crotch. A police spokesman later identified that person as Gibson. 'My brother would not do that,' [Kristy] Morgan said. Gibson, a high-tech worker who is about 5-feet-8 and weighs about 150 pounds, was at the club with friends, including a designated driver, she said. 'He’s not a big drinker, a big partyer,' she said. The police statement said one patron was so drunk he was vomiting. Morgan said her brother threw up because of his head injury. She also questioned police efforts to summon medical help. The time on Gibson’s ticket for public intoxication is 2:10 a.m. An ambulance wasn’t called until 2:25 a.m. Club Manager Randy Norman said Gibson didn’t seem drunk and was walking from the men’s room, holding a bottle of water, when an officer pushed him against a wall and then pushed him to the ground. Some patrons said they heard Gibson ask the officer a question, but that he didn’t fight back. At least three officers were involved in handcuffing him."

A columnist at the Dallas Morning News is demanding answers. As are local politicians: "Council members Joel Burns and Kathleen Hicks are requesting the probe into Sunday's raid at the Rainbow Lounge, where about a half dozen people were arrested. Hicks says she's disturbed by the raid that sent at least one person to the hospital."

Fort Worth police statement identifying involved officers, and local news report,
AFTER THE JUMP...

White House Stonewall Reception to Be Streamed Live Today

As you may know, there's an LGBT reception celebrating Stonewall today at the White House. It has been criticized by some bloggers as a photo-op meant to gloss over the lack of inaction by the President on campaign promises he made to the gay community. It will be streamed live HERE at 4:25 EDT, according to the White House blog.

Americablog has likely been the loudest detractor: "Now, we keep hearing that the noble people who are going on Monday are planning to talk about issues and really let the White House know we've got problems. That's BS. Many of them had a chance two weeks ago in the Oval Office to tell the president what they thought, and how many of those groups let him have it? This is a show-off event for the star-f*ckers, and it's a chance for the Obama administration to use our community's 'leaders' for some much-needed CYA. They'll show the world how much they really do love the gays, after all, they gave them champagne! The White House is taking full advantage of this."

Brian Bond, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, blogs about today's event:

"To me, today’s event is more than just a reception honoring LGBT Pride month.  It is an opportunity for the Administration to provide the world with a snap shot  of the real heroes across the country that do the day-to-day work fighting for equality. People like State Representative Patricia Todd in Alabama to Sheriff Lupe Valdez in Dallas, and may other local LGBT elected officials that will be here today.  And it’s people – ordinary families – that by simply living their lives openly are changing hearts and minds.  It is also an opportunity to welcome the people upon whom shoulders we stand, people like Frank Kameny, as well as Phil Wilson, Bishop Robinson and Ambassador Hormel, who I know personally, and those who stood up to bigotry at Stonewall.  I really wish people like Bayard Rustin could be standing here with us today.  He would be up for the fight ahead of us and proud of the place we now stand. People may not know this, but there hasn’t been a significant event since the President took office that hasn’t included the LGBT community -- discussions on the economy and the recovery, or health care -- but this event is special to me and to many of the people that haven’t been here for many years."

David Mixner had some good advice last week for those attending the event.

On a personal note: I was invited late last week as a 'plus one' one of the invited guests to this event, and received a late request over the weekend from someone else to reconsider. After some thinking about it and discussion with close friends about whether it would be proper to attend with the attitude of "bringing the message to Obama," I decided against it. While I would love nothing more than to go to the White House and meet the President for a celebration of LGBT people, I'll look forward to the day that happens when we aren't still relegated to the back of the bus.