The History of the 2010 Dallas Bathhouse raid.
We won't let the victims of this raid be forgotten.
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The petition for the City of Dallas to release the records is at the end of this post.
The status of the project is in a post for which the link is at the end of this post.
The Forgotten Dallas Bath House Raid of 2010
On Friday night, from 9:30 pm to 10:15 pm, October 8, 2010 the Dallas Police raided The Club baths on 2616 Swiss Avenue and arrested eleven men. Seven patrons were arrested for public lewdness and three on charges of indecent exposure, and a manager of The Club was charged for interfering with police. The employee was a manager who “refused admittance to uniformed police officers responding to assist the undercover officers.” The police forced open the door to break into the bathhouse. Two undercover plainclothes detective officers purchased day memberships, rented private rooms, and changed into towels and went into the common areas of The Club to gather evidence, and then called for the additional police to make arrests. The uniformed officers showed up with plastic handcuffs. The patron mentioned by the Dallas Voice as being present at the arrest accused the police of harassment and intimidation and stated that one of the officers said, “I’m going to have nightmares forever after this,” because it was a Gay bathhouse who also stated that the Fire Marshal showed up the next day for an inspection.[1]
The heroic bathhouse manager hasn’t ever been honored for his resistance against police oppression nor is he recognized as heroic in the Dallas Voice.
The raid was conducted in response to a citizen complaint on Oct. 5, 2010, according to a statement sent to the Dallas Voice on Oct. 20, 2010 by Laura Martin which is as follows:
On October 5, 2010, the Vice Unit received a complaint from a citizen regarding an alleged sexually oriented business violation at 2616 Swiss Avenue. The citizen stated that the management was renting out rooms for the viewing of adult movies and use as motel rooms. The rooms were allegedly being used for sexual activities.
On October 8, 2010, undercover officers entered the location to investigate the allegations articulated in the citizen complaint. Officers purchased a day membership and entered the location. Officers observed a large number of individuals engaging in sexual activity. These acts were occurring in the public areas of the spa, which include the pool area, hallway, and other common areas.
Ten arrests were made for the Texas Penal Code violations of Public Lewdness and Indecent Exposure. These acts were occurring in a public place. Arrests were not made for the acts taking place in the private rooms. One arrest was made for interference with Public Duties, Peace Officer, when the manager refused admittance to uniformed police officers responding to assist the undercover officers.
As a result of the investigation it was determined the allegations made in the citizen’s complaint were accurate. There has been no vice investigative activity or complaints received at this location in several years.
The Dallas Police Department is charged with the duty of investigating, enforcing, and responding to citizen complaints regarding sexually oriented businesses throughout the city. The Vice Unit is committed to being responsive to community concerns and thus conducts its investigations in an equitable and just manner.[2]
The Club Baths issued a one-sentence statement on October 14, 2010 about the raid.
The Club Dallas management is committed to pursuing justice for and defending the rights of each of its members.
The Club baths was reported as helping bond out arrested members from jail and offer them legal representation.[3]
Who was the citizen that complained was never revealed by the Dallas Police.[4] The same citizen who complained on Oct. 5, 2023, filed another complaint on Oct. 13, 2023, but The Club baths weren’t raided or visited by the police.[5]
The Dallas Police Dept. official liaison to the Gay community, Martin Lauren, justified the raid and threaten The Clubs with raids in the future in a snide comment. From the Oct. 15, 2010 article on the raid.
Martin said she believes it marked the first time since 2003 vice officers have gone in to the 34-year-old establishment…
“We’ve done operations in that club since the late 70s. There just hasn’t been one in a while because there hasn’t been a complaint,” Martin said. “They [officers] were in their for a legitimate reason, and obviously there was illegal activity going on or that many arrests wouldn’t have been made.”
And:
“When somebody complains we have to go in, just like when someone calls 911 we have to go to the call,” Martin said. “Now that so much activity was found there, they can probably expect more vice operations there … I’ve certainly never been there, but I’ve that public lewdness does go on in the club. All you have to do is keep your ears open.” [Elision in the original.] [6]
There haven’t been any additional raids on The Club baths since Oct. 8, 2010, but at the time Martin was interviewed for this Dallas Voice, Oct, 15, 2010 article she thought that another raid was likely. Given that the unknown citizen complainer had filed a complaint on Oct. 13, 2010, there were people, included the Dallas Police Dept. Vice Dept., who thought that the Oct. 8, 2010 raid was going to be the basis of an ongoing campaign against The Club.
Bizarrely, people thought that the complaint came from a member of The Club in Dallas. From a Dallas Voice blog post:
The statement doesn’t specifically say whether the citizen was a Club Dallas member, and Martin declined to confirm this. However, given the details in the complaint about what was going on inside the club, a reasonable person might conclude that it came from a member.[7]
Dallas is home to major homophobic Christian churches and members of homophobic denominations make up a large fraction of the Dallas population. Further, the Mayor of Dallas, Tom Leppert, was a member of the notoriously homophobic First Baptist Dallas church. Dallas is known as the “Buckle of the Bible Belt.” An individual could go to The Club baths to get information to file a complaint. The possibility that the Vice Unit might have recruited a citizen to make a complaint doesn’t seem to be a possibility for the editors of the Dallas Voice.
The Dallas Police Department only released records of three of the eleven arrests and said that a Freedom of Information request would need to be filed to get the rest of the records.[8]
The Dallas Voice blog reported Nov. 5, 2010, that Online Editor John Wright did file a freedom of information request #2010-9657, and in response Dallas Assistant City Attorney J. Middlebrooks had written on Nov. 2, 2010 Texas Attorney General for an opinion as to what information they had to supply and what information they could withhold and gave reasons as to why not to supply it.
One very concerning reason given is that giving out certain pieces of information would impair their ability to conduct additional bar raids in the future. [9]
(Note the above letter to the Texas Attorney General gives the address of the Club Baths differently than the addresses in The Baths advertisements in 2011 or 2023.)
What were the consequences to the persons arrested isn’t known. When these individuals were arrested and I assume jailed and bailed how long did that take? Did they miss days of work? How did they explain that to their boss? Did they lose their jobs? Was the arrest expunged from their records, or for every job application, which usually has a question about arrests, that they did for the rest of their lives did they have to mention this arrest for lewdness? Did they have to leave Dallas? Did they end up unemployed? Did they end up homeless? What was their experience of this? Did any of them have to get divorced? Did any of them get expelled from their church? Did they lose friends? Did they end up living with angry homophobic relatives? Did they have trouble sleeping? Were their sex lives affected? How was it to worry for months that you might be sent for trial?
The Dallas Voice only had a brief account of one of the persons arrested, stating that he wasn’t out to family and he had to call relatives from jail and explain what happened.[9] What has happened to this particular member since he and the other ten persons arrested were released and the charges dropped isn’t known. Also, it doesn’t seem that anyone has attempted to find out. Though to some extent this might be explained by the Dallas Police Department blocking access to information about the arrests.
Though Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins ultimately dismissed all the cases, the Dallas Voice struggled to find out how Watkins was handling the cases.
In a Jan. 19, 2011 Dallas Voice blog the defense attorney for nine of the eleven defendants is David Hill. David Hill reports that the District Attorney is dismissing charges against all eleven men, though charges haven’t been dismissed for two of the defendants. Hill also reports that The Club Dallas has a Dallas City certificate of occupancy indicating it is a private facility. However, the same article states that the District Attorney would only confirm that charges had been dropped for “at least six of the men,” but declined to comment further. The blog entry states:
“Due to the fact that these cases are so closely related, commenting on the dismissed cases would affect the prosecution of the pending case,” Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said in a statement.
Hill declined to say whether it was safe to visit The Club Dallas. [11]
The difficulties in getting information from the District Attorney’s office was reported by the Dallas Morning News regarding their own cases, by the Dallas Voice commenting on the problems that the Dallas Morning News had, and the Dallas Morning News commenting on the problems the Dallas Voice was having.[12]
In the Dallas Voice blog post, “More on Club Dallas,” Jan. 19, 2011, the Dallas Voice expresses frustration on not being told why the charges are being dropped.
It seems as though when the Dallas Police Department goes out of its way to raid a gay bathhouse and arrest 11 people — then the DA’s office declines to prosecute — there ought to be some sort of public explanation.
Defense David Hill says they are being dropped in the interest of justice, but that is his statement and not the official record or statement of the District Attorney, further it isn’t that clear what that means.
Further they report on not getting a response from the Dallas Police Dept. what they think about the District Attorney’s decisions regarding the bathhouse raid charges after contacting Dallas Police Chief David Brown and LGBT liaison officer Laura Martin. [13]
In a Dallas Voice blog post on Jan. 24, 2011, 12:19 they report that over the weekend Laura Martin had responded to their inquiry about what the Dallas Police Dept. thought of the District Attorney dismissing the bathhouse raid charges. The blog post quotes what Lauran Martin had commented on the Dallas Voice Jan. 20, 2011, 7:21 pm post.
“We are in the process of gathering accurate information regarding the facts of the dismissal of the charges against some of the men arrested. We are being asked to make a comment regarding future enforcement at Club Dallas. Due to the large number of arrests, and the fact that several cases are still pending prosecution, we are notable to make that determination at this time. I will continue to update the community when we are able to add to this story.”
Then there is an official statement from the Dallas Police Department Monday afternoon (1/24/2011).
“The Dallas Police Department recently learned that many of the charges involving activities at The Club Dallas in October 2010 were dismissed. The department plans to meet with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office as soon as possible regarding these cases. The purpose of the meeting is to determine the cause of the dismissals, and to determine what, if any, procedural changes may be needed. An update will be provided following the meeting.[14]
In a Dallas Voice blog post of Feb. 2, 2011, 12:43 pm the count of those dismissed is now seven of the eleven. Three of the men arrested never had charges filed. However, the District Attorney has filed a new charge against one of the eleven men. The blog posts that the latest dismissal was Jan. 27, 2011. The latest charge was filed on Jan. 28, 2011 against one person. The Dallas Voice expresses frustration as to why they can’t find out why a new charge was filed. The Dallas Voice speculates that the new charge protects the District Attorney Watkins from having to comment on the case.[15]
In a Dallas Voice blog post of Feb. 16, 2011, 5:47 pm, it is announced that the District Attorney has “now dismissed or rejected charges against all 11 …” Jamille Bradfield confirmed that 10 of the cases have been dismissed and one charge was rejected. The District Attorney is unavailable for comment. Also, reported is that the Dallas Police Department has “declined to comment on whether they’ll conduct vice operations at Club Dallas or other gay bathhouses in the future.”[16] The subsequent print version of the article didn’t have any additional information. [17]
The Dallas Voice blog post of Feb. 17, 2011, 6:25 pm, reports that District Attorney Craig Watson states “today” (Feb. 17, 2011) dismissed the charges stating:
“Based upon the U. S. Constitution and the applicable Texas statute, the elements of the offense were unprovable,” Watkins said.
Watkins didn’t specify which portion of the Constitution he was referring to, but undoubtedly it’s the right to privacy.
The assertion that it is, “undoubtedly it’s the right to privacy,” is simply a speculation and not necessarily true. In the end Watkins is side stepping the question.[18]
The reporting ends at this point by the Dallas Voice. It is unknown whether the Dallas Police Dept. ever met with the District Attorney and what was the outcome of that meeting. It is unknown if the Dallas Voice ever finally get information from the District Attorney as to why the charges were dropped or other information which was requested. It is unknown whether the Dallas Voice ever finally got all the information they requested from the Dallas Police Department. Nor is it clear that the Dallas Police Department had decided not to raid Gay bath houses in the future.
At this time it is unclear that the City of Dallas would not raid a Gay bathhouse again.
There were no protests and the effort to find out what happened seemed to have stopped. This is despite that this was a raid in the year 2010, when raids of bathhouse were thought to be a thing of the past. This was despite it never was learned who or what was behind it.
This 2010 raid made the list of 30 infamous raids by the Advocate and has a world historical rank along in a list of raids from the Ariston Bathhouse 1903 in New York City to the BlueBoy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2016.
https://www.advocate.com/politics/2018/2/02/30-infamous-police-raids-gay-bars-and-bathhouses
The persons behind the raid were never held accountable for terrorizing eleven Gay men.
Contrast this to the response to the police raid of the Rainbow Loung in 2009 in Forth Worth, Texas. Two police officers were fired.
A movie was made. This is the trailer for the “Raid of the Rainbow Lounge.”
You can watch it on Amazon Prime.
https://www.amazon.com/Raid-Rainbow-Lounge-Meredith-Baxter/dp/B06XYHL78F
You can watch on Vimeo for a small rental.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/raidoftherainbowlounge
Fort Worth has had a human rights commission since 1967, but Dallas doesn’t have a human rights commission and the LGBT leadership in Dallas finds this tolerable.
The raid on the Rainbow Loung is remembered.
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/14-years-since-police-raid-fort-worth-gay-bar/
Three Fort Worth officers were suspended because of the raid.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/three-officers-suspended-in-rainbow-lounge-raid/1861859/ The Gays in Fort Worth protested. From the above report.
Officers are supposed to write arrest reports by the end of every shift, but in this case their supervisors called them in the next day – after gay groups had launched protests, Halstead said.
Gay bar patrons got compensated for what was done. Dallas Morning News, “Fort Worth to pay $400,000 to Rainbow Lounge patron injured during raid on gay bar.”
There hasn’t been any reparations at all for the victims of the 2010 The Club Dallas bath raids, or even an investigation on how their lives were impacted.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission fired three agents and disciplined two others.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/tabc-fires-agents-supervisor-involved-in-the-rainbow-lounge-raid-disciplines-two-others-7117695 There was a 32-page report issued. Ed Sebesta has started his struggles with the City of Dallas for information.
There was no penalty or any discipline for those behind the raid on The Club Dallas baths.
In both Calgary, Albert, Canada, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada there has been apologize for raids there. No apologies have happened here in Dallas.
https://calgary.citynews.ca/2022/12/12/calgary-goliath-bathhouse-raid-police/
What also is interesting is that while going through the reports, you learn that there were other raids and what happened appears to be lost to history.
In the Dallas Voice blog post of Oct. 14, 2010, 8:42 pm, an attorney Tim Menchu said that when the Dallas Police Dept. raided the Midtowne Spa and arrested five men, he successfully defended them. Laura Martin says that the last time they were at The Club Dallas was in 2003.[14]
How many bath houses have been raided? How many other cases are there we don’t know about where the LGBT have been victimized?
We need to demand the following.
1. An apology be issued by the City of Dallas Police Dept.
2. There be a full release of the records about the raid on The Club Dallas bathhouse, and the citizens complaints about The Club Dallas on Oct. 5, and Oct. 13.
3. Reparations for those arrested at The Club Dallas baths on Oct. 8, 2010.
4. A historical commission to investigate all raids on LGBT establishments by Dallas Police and to propose reparations.
5. Explicit policies to prevent raids in the future.
6. A human rights commission for Dallas with advisory boards for different groups including an LGBT advisory board.
Please sign our petition.
Footnotes
[1] Wright, John, “11 arrested in raid at Club Dallas,” Dallas Voice, Vol. 27 No. 22, 10/15/2010, pages 4, 12; The time range, police comment about “nightmares,” and Fire Marshal visit was reported by a patron who said he was detained while the arrest was made. Dallas Voice blog post, Oct 12, 2010, 12:05pm, https://dallasvoice.com/11-arrested-public-lewdness-charges-raid-club-dallas/, downloaded 12/24/2023; Reasons for arrest of the manager, Dallas Voice blog, “Oct. 20, 2010, 12:53pm, https://dallasvoice.com/dpd-complaint-led-raid-club-dallas-citizen/, downloaded 12/24/2023; forcing open the door, and specific details about the uncover police officers, and breakdown of charges, Wright, John, “Rare bathhouse raid sparked controversy,” Dallas Voice, Vol. 27 No. 33, Dec. 31, page 14. This article reports that they have obtained information through a reply by the Dallas Police Dept. of their freedom of information request.
Details of the raid and arrests were spread over several articles and blog posts and this report is assembling them into a more coherent report. Some of the information the Dallas Voice didn’t have until they got a response to their freedom of information request. The address of The Club baths was different than it is now. This was the address as advertised in the Dallas Voice, Vol. 27 No. 21, 10/8/2010, page 53. Whether the property had more than one legal address and if so, which was the address they were doing for legal filings at the time isn’t known. Currently The Club has as its advertised address 2614 Swiss Avenue. Dallas Voice Market Place Directory, https://dallasvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/108-2022_OUT.pdf, on page 131. Downloaded 12/30/2023.
The Dallas Voice print issues can be found here at the Portal to Texas history, https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/DALVO/. The blog posts which are still online were all saved at the Internet archive.
https://archive.org/
[2] Wright, John, “InstaTEA: Complaint in bathhouse raid came from citizen, DPD, says,” Dallas Voice, Vol. 27 No. 23, Oct. 22, 2010, page 4.
[3] Dallas Voice blog, Oct. 14, 2010, 8:42pm, https://dallasvoice.com/11-arrested-raid-club-dallas/, downloaded 12/29/2023.
[4] Dallas Voice blog, https://dallasvoice.com/11-arrested-raid-club-dallas/, Oct. 14, 2010, 8:42pm, downloaded 12/29/2023. The citizen who made the complaint wasn’t revealed in any of the Dallas Voice reports on the raid. D Magazine, Dallas Observer, and Dallas Morning News didn’t report on the raid. Who the citizen was hasn’t been reveal by the City of Dallas nor discovered by anyone else. The author has sent in a Freedom of Information request for information concerning the raid.
[5] Wright, John, “Rare bathhouse raid sparked controversy,” Dallas Voice, Vol. 27 No. 33, Dec. 31, 2010, page 14.
[6] Wright, John, “11 arrested in raid at Club Dallas,” Dallas Voice, Vol. 27 No. 22, 10/15/2010, pages 4, 12.
[7] Dallas Voice blog, Oct. 20, 2010, 12:53 pm, https://dallasvoice.com/dpd-complaint-led-raid-club-dallas-citizen/, downloaded 12/29/2023.
[8] Wright, John, “11 arrested in raid at Club Dallas,” Dallas Voice, Vol. 27 No. 22, 10/15/2010, pages 4, 12.
[9] Dallas Voice blog, Nov. 5, 2010, 11:35 pm., https://dallasvoice.com/city-asks-ags-office-release-records-related-raid-clubdallas/, downloaded 12/29/2023.
[10] Dallas Voice blog, Oct. 14, 2010, 8:42pm, https://dallasvoice.com/11-arrested-raid-club-dallas/, downloaded 12/29/2023.
[11] Dallas Voice blog, Jan. 19, 2011, 12:45 pm, https://dallasvoice.com/attorney/, downloaded 12/29/2023.
[12] Emily, Jennifer, “DA forbids prosecutors from speaking to media,” Dallas Morning News, Jan. 18, 2011, page B03; Dallas Voice blog, Jan. 19, 2011, 10:02 am, https://dallasvoice.com/club-dallas-2/, downloaded 12/24/2023; Emily, Jennifer, “The DMN isn’t the only media outlet having trouble getting information from the Dallas County District Attorney’s office,” Dallas Morning News, https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2011/01/19/the-dmn-isn-t-the-only-media-outlet-having-trouble-getting-information-from-the-dallas-county-district-attorney-s-office/, downloaded, 12/29/2023, respectively.
[13] Dallas Voice blog, Jan. 19, 2011, 10:02 am, https://dallasvoice.com/club-dallas-2/, downloaded 12/24/2023.
[14] Dallas Voice blog, Jan. 20, 2011, 12:19 pm, https://dallasvoice.com/dpd-determination-future-enforcement-club-dallas/, downloaded, 12/29/2023.
[15] Dallas Voice blog, Feb. 2, 2011, 12:43 pm, https://dallasvoice.com/das-office-file-case-avoid-talking-club-dallas-issue/, downloaded, 12/29/2023.
[16] Dallas Voice blog, Feb. 16, 2011, 5:47 pm, https://dallasvoice.com/das-office-confirms-charges-dismissed-rejected-11-club-dallas-cases/,
[17] Wright, John, “Club Dallas cases closed,” Dallas Voice, Vol. 27 No. 40, Feb. 18, 2011, page 4.
[18] Dallas Voice blog, Feb. 17, 2011, 6:25 pm, https://dallasvoice.com/da-craig-watkins-issues-statement-dismissal-charges-stemming-club-dallas-raid/, downloaded, 12/29/2023.
[19] Dallas Voice blog, Oct. 14, 2010, 8:42 pm, https://dallasvoice.com/11-arrested-raid-club-dallas/, downloaded 12/29/2023.
Brought up the issue whether a bath house raid was still possible in 2010.
As of today 1/23/2024, 28 days later, still waiting. I have paid the fee they asked, twice, once by check sent by certified mail, but when the City Secretary emailed me and asked that I pay it online, I paid it again. I don’t want a lost check to be the reason not to get these records. Of course they might be so heavily redacted to be nearly worthless, but I think I will then use that as the basis of the next step in the campaign. If they are not heavily redacted I will update the story.
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