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Friday, July 17, 2009 MATTHEW SHEPARD ACT ADVANCES - WITHOUT HUTCHISON OR CORNYN TABC ADMINISTRATOR ON RAINBOW LOUNGE - "TABC SHOULDN'T HAVE EVEN BEEN THERE" FORT WORTH CITY COUNCIL - INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION ON AGENDA FOR JULY 21 MATTHEW SHEPARD ACT ADVANCES - WITHOUT HUTCHISON OR CORNYN
Senate voted 63 to 28 to end debate (cloture) on adding Hate Crimes Act to Defense Reauthorization Equality Texas applauds the U.S. Senate's approval late Thursday of an inclusive hate crimes amendment as part of the Department of Defense Authorization bill. The measure would create the first federal protections for LGBT Americans by adding sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability to existing federal hate crimes law. Both Texas Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn were among the 28 Senators voting "No" on the cloture motion. The U.S. House already cleared hate crimes legislation in April on a vote of 249 to 175. Upon Senate approval of the Defense Authorization Bill, the legislation would likely move to conference committee to resolve differences between House and Senate versions. President Obama previously indicated his support in the following statement issued on April 28, 2009: "I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance – legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action."
TABC ADMINISTRATOR ON RAINBOW LOUNGE - "TABC SHOULDN'T HAVE EVEN BEEN THERE" As reported by Tammye Nash and John Wright in the Dallas Voice, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) Administrator Allen Steen acknowleges violations of agency policy and apologizes for them. “I don’t think you have to dig very deep to figure out that TABC has violated some of their policies,” Steen said. “We know that, and I apologize for that. Like I said in my original press release, we have in the past and we will in the future act very swiftly in making sure that those issues are corrected. It’s real clear that however it is that we were doing business that night is not the typical TABC.” Read the full Dallas Voice article
here.
FORT WORTH CITY COUNCIL - INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION ON AGENDA FOR JULY 21 The agenda for next Tuesday's Fort Worth City Council meeting has been published, and the first item under Resolutions includes: XI. RESOLUTIONS 1. A Resolution Requesting an Independent Investigation by the United States Attorney's Office Regarding the Rainbow Lounge. The council meeting is scheduled for 10am on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 in the Council Chamber of City Hall at 1000 Throckmorton Street in Fort Worth. If you've not seen it yet, please read the blog post from Jon Nelson of Fairness Fort Worth on the importance of getting involved. And, you can watch video of Jon Nelson's testimony before the Council at last week's meeting. Nelson's testimony is at hour/minute mark 3:13:30.
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