A county staff member told commissioners the person scheduled to give the briefing wasn\u2019t available to speak July 1. Commissioners were initially scheduled to hear the presentation June 17, but that meeting was canceled because the court didn\u2019t have a quorum<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n County spokesperson Regina Calderon did not return a request for comment on whether commissioners would hear the briefing at a later date.\u00a0<\/p>\n The application for a historical marker originated from Fort Worth staff and would have been located at the site of the Rainbow Lounge, an LGBTQ bar raided by members of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Fort Worth police in 2009 and widely seen since as a local LGBTQ landmark. The historical marker would not have specifically recognized the bar, but instead spotlighted Jennings Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood in the Near Southside as the center of Fort Worth\u2019s LGBTQ community, according to a draft of the inscription<\/a> obtained by the Report.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although the scheduled briefing didn\u2019t happen, commissioners discussed the agenda item during the meeting and heard public comments from five Tarrant residents, who all spoke in opposition to O\u2019Hare\u2019s effort to shut down the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n Commissioner Alisa Simmons said O\u2019Hare\u2019s issue with the historical marker wasn\u2019t about following processes but about \u201cerasing history, specifically the history of the LGBTQ community in Tarrant County.\u201d She described his effort to shut down the project as \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d and \u201cpolitical grandstanding.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is not an error of process here,\u201d Simmon said. \u201cWhat we have is an abuse of power.\u201d<\/p>\n She said appointees to county boards and commissions should be trusted to do the jobs for which they were appointed, which she believes the historical commission chair at the time did. Colleta Strickland, who oversaw the marker application as chair at the time, previously denied O\u2019Hare\u2019s claim<\/a> that the process wasn\u2019t followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get to rewrite history because you don\u2019t like it or what it includes,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThis court and these court members should not be in the business of gatekeeping history, especially when it\u2019s rooted in discrimination and political interference.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare said commission members told him the marker application never went to their review. He noted that Fort Worth leadership agreed with his assessment and supported pulling the application.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Worth City Manager Jay Chapa asked for the application to be pulled because \u201cthere was no public process or external request for making the request and it did not follow the county\u2019s procedures for historical markers,\u201d according to a previous statement from his spokesperson<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition, it shouldn\u2019t come as much of a surprise that I don\u2019t think glorifying drag show performances is an appropriate thing,\u201d O\u2019Hare said July 1. \u201cI don\u2019t. I won\u2019t now, I won\u2019t tomorrow, I won\u2019t next week, I won\u2019t next month.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Addressing commissioners July 1, local historian Todd Camp said the historical marker would not have memorialized the Rainbow Lounge raid or glorified drag shows. Camp runs the nonprofit YesterQueer<\/a>, which documents LGBTQ history across Fort Worth and Tarrant County, and edited the text that would have been inscribed on the marker.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMarkers do more than commemorate \u2014 they educate,\u201d Camp said. \u201cThey invite visitors and residents alike to engage with the layered, complex stories that shape a place. When one community\u2019s story is absent, the historical record is incomplete.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He said Fort Worth has seven state historical markers classified under Black history, one marker for Asian American history and one for women\u2019s history \u2014 but none for LGBTQ history. The only state marker dedicated to LGBTQ history in Texas is located at the intersection of Cedar Springs Road and Throckmorton Street in Dallas, considered the center of the city\u2019s LGBTQ community since the 1970s, according to the Texas Historical Commission\u2019s database of markers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the meeting, Commissioner Matt Krause asked Simmons why she thinks the Texas Historical Commission granted O\u2019Hare\u2019s request to remove the application if the application process had been followed correctly. O\u2019Hare can write \u201cany letter, all the letters he wants,\u201d Krause said, but he doesn\u2019t have power over whether the commission would grant his request.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Simmons\u2019 response was brief: \u201cPolitical pressure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Texas Historical Commission previously said it rescinded the application at O\u2019Hare\u2019s request but directed questions about the decision to county officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare said his letter to the state commission is \u201cself-explanatory and accurate,\u201d and he stands by it 100%. If an application for the same historical marker went through the correct process, O\u2019Hare said, the application would get approved and move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that the Tarrant County Commissioners Court approved five new appointees<\/a> to the county\u2019s historical commission. Calderon, the county spokesperson, did not return the Report\u2019s request for the names of the new appointees, who were not listed on the July 1 meeting agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n
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