Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth...history repeating?

On the 40th anniversary of the movement launching Stonewall riots, an all too familiar event took place in Fort Worth Texas. Police raided the Rainbow Lounge, a new gay bar that opened up a few weeks ago. They claimed that they had recieved a tip from an ex-employee about public drunkeness, but by all accounts, the arrests they made were unjustified. In addition, while no one seemed to resist, the force used in the arrests was excessive. One patron might need surgery to recover.

The police have yet to make any plausible excuse for their actions, but protesters are demanding answers.

Below is a first-hand account of the events

Kayla Lane and her sister Kelly were both at Rainbow Lounge last night when police came in and started arresting people. Both sent me e-mails with their accounts of what happened. Kayla has given me permission to reprint her e-mail here. Kelly’s account is ery much the same.

From Kayla Lane:

My name is Kayla Lane. I am a Ph.D. student at UC-Santa Cruz, staying with my sister, Kelly Lane, for the summer. We and a few of our friends went to the new Rainbow Lounge last night to dance and have some fun. I was in the VIP section when police officers started coming up there. The first arrest (that we saw) was right in front of me in that section.

They asked the guy if he had been drinking, and he said some, and they snidely replied, “Well, we’ll see how much!” and plastic handcuffed him as they read him his rights The guy was doing NOTHIG wrong. It was utterly repugnant.

Once I saw this happen, I decided to try and speak with one of the police officers themselves, to go straight to the source and get their side. My sister Kelly and I simply started asking what they were doing here, stating how suspicious it seemed on this date and in this specific club, etc. This was a “State Policeman,” whose name I forgot, who tried to explain their actions by referring to “anonymous tips” and “disgruntled ex-bartenders.” We pointed out the place was open a week, so the disgruntled ex-bartender source seemed a bit unlikely! He wouldn’t really answer my questions. although he did try to grab my hand and flirt with me (which was completely uninvited).

After this, we saw the policemen go into the men’s restroom, pull out at least two guys from handcuffs from there, and pull one onto the ground before forcefully removing him. What were they doing in there? Raucously disposing of their waste?! There was no reason for ANY of those arrests, at all. These people were NOT drunk, or even overly happy or silly. As the last office came by, some patrons were calling out “Homophobes!,” “Fucking Assholes,” etc. - obviously and justifiably upset over the present actions. The officer, whose head was turned the other way, looked back and saw and recognized me as questioning the state policeman earlier, and yanked my arm, forcing me out of the bar in front of him.

After pulling my arm away once we were outside, I calmly told him it was not me that called him these names, but he aggressively insisted it was, no matter what I said. Then he accused me of stirring up trouble by talking to the policeman earlier. I said it was my right to question, as a concerned citizen, these actions. He responded that, “What we do, is right. You can’t question when we are doing something.” I said something about him not understanding a democracy then.

Thankfully at this time, my sister and another friend came out, and vouched for my innocence. After this, he said I could go, after we indugled his ego for a few minutes with some respectful and quiet answers. To the end, he belligerantly and crudely accused me of of the name-calling deed, that he “knew” I said those things and I better got before I get arrested. Apparently, the fact that his head was turned and there was no logical way he could have known

who spoke was beyond him.

~Zaneta

OUR SUMMER READING LIST!!!!

These are books that we feel everyone should read this summer...

Am I Blue? Coming out from the Silence edited by Marion Dane Bauer

This collection of 18 short stories by recognized children's and young adult authors that explore the various meanings of gay/lesbian identity in the lives of teenagers. The book begins and ends with thoughtful commentaries by Bauer, and each story is followed by an afterword by its author that ranges from ho-hum to fascinating; the best tell the "story behind the story" and reveal the ways in which gay/lesbian issues or individuals have touched the authors' lives. Most feature white, middle-class, suburban/urban milieus, although several stories have a more diverse cast. All seek to convey the very mixed emotions that accompany the acceptance of sexual difference at an age that places a high value on conformity to an established norm.

Cunt by Inga Muscio

An ancient title of respect for women, the word "cunt" long ago veered off this noble path. Inga Muscio traces the road from honor to expletive, giving women the motivation and tools to claim "cunt" as a positive and powerful force in their lives. In this fully revised edition, she explores, with candidness and humor, such traditional feminist issues as birth control, sexuality, jealousy between women, and prostitution with a fresh attitude for a new generation of women. Sending out a call for every woman to be the Cuntlovin’ Ruler of Her Sexual Universe, Muscio stands convention on its head by embracing all things cunt-related. "Cunt does for feminism what smoothies did for high-fiber diets—it reinvents the oft-indigestible into something sweet and delicious."—Bust Magazine

The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper

When Helene Cooper was 8 years old, her mother bought her a playmate. At the time, Cooper — enjoying a privileged childhood as the daughter of a wealthy Liberian family — was marooned at the family's flashy new 22-room Sugar Beach mansion, far from the bustle and hum of Monrovia, Liberia's capital. With only her scary cousin Vicky (who ''saw'' spirits) and her baby sister Marlene for company, Cooper was lonely. So the skinny, bowlegged tribal girl named Eunice who appeared one day in 1974 became a sister in every sense but one: When a bloody 1980 coup d'état sent the country's political system reeling, and soldiers began butchering most people in Cooper's moneyed class, Eunice was not forced to flee to the U.S. with the rest of the family but was able to stay behind. Though many terrible things happened to Cooper — including the gang rape of her mother — she was perhaps most affected by Eunice's decision to remain in Liberia. ''In my sheltered existence, I had never dug deep enough to wonder how much native Liberians resented us,'' Cooper writes. ''I had been shocked [to learn] the level of hatred.... Did Eunice feel that way too?''

Surprised by God by Danya Ruttenberg

Ruttenberg, who was recently ordained as a rabbi, decided at the age of 13 that she was an atheist. Then in the late 1990s, she experienced a spiritual awakening, taking what she describes as a winding, semi-reluctant path through traditional Jewish practice that eventually took me to the rabbinate. Ruttenberg writes that for her the work of the religious life has been about reconfiguration and reintegration, determining which parts she has outgrown and which could grow with her. A tremendously satisfying memoir of spiritual awakening from the author of a variety of books and periodicals.

The Body Project: An Intimate history of American Girls by Joan Jacobs Brumberg

From the most private method of sanitary protection to the most intimate place to pierce one's body, this history of feminine hygiene and fashion records young women's obsession with looks and how society has channeled and manipulated them to reflect the values of the times. From diaries, journal articles, advertising, and doctor's records, the author has amassed information about mainly middle-class American girls of the 19th and 20th century that shows how they have been raised first by overprotective, repressive adults to play a submissive role in society and, more recently, to be consumers in an ever-widening marketplace. From skin cream to dieting to figure-altering garments and body piercing, physical enhancements in the last 200 years are reported. Beginning with an account of Abigail Adams's concern about the early maturation of her 11-year-old granddaughter in 1806 and progressing to descriptions of today's independent young women grappling with numerous options of dress and sexual conduct, a thought-provoking social history is revealed. The author begins and ends her treatise with a passionate argument for advocacy for today's girls who are preyed upon by the media and allowed dangerous sexual options without emotional maturity and are lacking the protective umbrella of moral guidelines and supervision provided by earlier generations. Young women will enjoy the numerous photos and will have a giggle about the corsets and belts of earlier times.

Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity

by Vershawn Ashanti

In Your Average Nigga, Vershawn Ashanti Young disputes the belief that speaking Standard English and giving up Black English Vernacular helps black students succeed academically. Young argues that this assumption not only exaggerates the differences between two compatible varieties of English but forces black males to choose between an education and their masculinity, by choosing to act either white or black. As one would expect from a scholar who is subject to the very circumstances he studies, Young shares his own experiences as he exposes the factors that make black racial identity irreconcilable with literacy for blacks, especially black males.

The Trouble Between Us: An Uneasy History of White and Black Women in the Feminist Movement

by Winifred Breines

One of the leading voices of the 1960s and '70s civil rights and feminist movements, Breines (Young, White, and Miserable: Growing up Female in the Fifties) attempts to confront, understand and better relations between white and black women in this sincere and detailed historical analysis. Though she may alienate readers early on with a defensive take on the role of Caucasian women in the women's rights movement ("One of the central struggles of young white socialist feminists was to create a racially inclusive movement. ... but black women rejected and attacked the feminist movement as racist."), Breines tries to correct for misunderstandings on both sides of the racial divide, with the goal of determining why a true multicultural feminist movement never developed in the United States. There are valuable lessons to be learned from Breines, especially in her ability to mine this "marginal sector of the American political scene" for relevant commentary on American race relations throughout history, but her methodical approach is aimed more at scholars than casual history or feminism buffs.

The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop--and Why It Matters

by Tricia Rose

Hip-hop is in crisis. For the past dozen years, the most commercially successful hip-hop has become increasingly saturated with caricatures of black gangstas, thugs, pimps, and ’hos. The controversy surrounding hip-hop is worth attending to and examining with a critical eye because, as scholar and cultural critic Tricia Rose argues, hip-hop has become a primary means by which we talk about race in the United States.

In The Hip-Hop Wars, Rose explores the most crucial issues underlying the polarized claims on each side of the debate: Does hip-hop cause violence, or merely reflect a violent ghetto culture? Is hip-hop sexist, or are its detractors simply anti-sex? Does the portrayal of black culture in hip-hop undermine black advancement.

Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men

by: Michael Kimmel

To a growing list of books about the myths and mysteries of American boys and young males, Kimmel, a sociologist and author of Manhood In America, adds this deft exploration grounded in research. Based on more than 400 interviews, over a four-year span, with young men ages 16–26, Kimmel's study shows that the guys who live in Guyland are mostly white, middle-class, totally confused and cannot commit to their relationships, work or lives. Although they seem baffled by the riddles of manhood and responsibility, they submit to the Guy Code, where locker-room behaviors, sexual conquests, bullying, violence and assuming a cocky jock pose can rule over the sacrifice and conformity of marriage and family. Obsessed with never wanting to grow up, this demographic, which is 22 million strong, craves video games, sports and depersonalized sexual relationships. In the end, Kimmel offers a highly practical guide to male youth.

Hello World...

We are the Women's Center located at the Ramapo College of New Jersey!!!! In the past, we have produced a monthly newsletter to keep students and our supporters in the loop, but we have finally decided to go "green." This blog will include events, news, manifestos, and links to our favorite blogs.

For more information, please email women@ramapo.edu