Police Liaison to the LGBTQ+ asked in meeting for an email about the 2010 The Club bath house raid. I sent it in Fri. 1/19/2024. Update, got a nothing response.
There wasn't any closure on the raid in 2010 and whether another raid could occur. This is one element of my historical investigation.
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Update: LGBTQ+ Dallas Police Liaison throws a tantrum.
My email letter in reply to Liaison’s email.
At the Cathedral of Hope meeting on LGBT security on Jan. 18, 2024, when the LGBTQ+ Dallas Police Liaison was brought to the front of the meeting, I brought up that it still hasn’t been resolved whether a raid on a Gay establishment could occur in 2024 as occured in 2010.
I said, that though it was unlikely that a raid would occur in 2024, but it was unlikely that a raid would occur in 2010 also. The previous such type raid, besides the 2009 Rainbow Lounge raid in Fort Worth, was back in the 1990s. [I will put background info links at the end of this report.]
The two police officers told me to contact them after the meeting so we could exchange emails and I could email in my inquiry.
The next day, Jan. 19, 2024 they did email me, and I emailed a detailed inquiry to them as follows. I will do a post on what their reply is. As of 1/26/2024, 10:43 pm, one week later no response.
The following was my inquiry.
The photos referenced in the letter I have put at the end of the letter.
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Dear Officer Hutchings:
The Dallas Voice got a copy of a letter sent by the City of Dallas Assistant City Attorney J. Middlebrooks to then Hon. Greg Abbott Attorney General of Texas dated Nov. 10, 2010.
The subject was about responding to an information request by then Dallas Voice editor John Wright freedom of request for information concerning a police raid on Oct. 8, 2010 of The Club, a Gay sauna.
Attached are the two pages of the letter as published by the Dallas Voice. You can see it is on City of Dallas letterhead. The address for The Baths appears to be wrong. The Club baths used the address of 2616 Swiss Ave. in an advertisement in the Dallas Voice of Oct. 8, 2010, Vol. 27, Issue 21.
The point of interest is indicated by the red arrow. I quote the section of interest
“The requested items provide detailed information regarding the incident beyond that considered “first page” information, such as detailed investigative notes[.] Release of this information at this time would interfere with the ongoing criminal investigations or prosecutions. Consequently, the Dallas District Attorney’s Office, the prosecuting agency for pending cases, and DPD request that the information be protected at this time. Otherwise, the cases may be hindered. The Attorney General’s Office has consistently held that information pertaining to a pending criminal matter can be withheld under Section 552.108 of the Government Code.”
What this section establishes is more than wanting the ability to prosecute the specific cases of the Oct. 8, 2010 The Club police raid, is that it is as of Nov. 10, 2010 the policy of the Dallas Police Department [would be] to want to make such raids, make arrests in such raids and prosecute them.
No documentation exists that the Dallas Police Dept. has reverse a policy of wanting to do such raids, arrest people, and support their prosecution.
Further, Dallas Police Officer, Laura Martin, titled “Liaison to the LGBT Community,” endorsed the raid on The Baths as quoted in the Dallas Voice, Oct. 15, 2010, Vol. 27 Issue 22. She is quoted as saying:
“They [officers] were in there for a legitimate reason, and obviously there was illegal activity going on or that many arrests wouldn’t have been made.”
The report is still online at the Dallas Voice.
https://dallasvoice.com/11-arrested-public-lewdness-charges-raid-club-dallas/
With “liaisons” like Laura Martin, the Gay community doesn’t need enemies.
The article is also in the online print issues provided by the University of North Texas, in their Portal to Texas History. It is page 4 in the print edition at this link.
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth239138/
Subsequent statements, 1/24/2011, by the Dallas Police Dept. supported doing the raid and said it was their policy and after the dismissal of the persons arrested, they planned to meet with the Dallas County District Attorney for the following reason:
“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.” [Dallas Voice, Jan. 20, 2011]
https://dallasvoice.com/dpd-determination-future-enforcement-club-dallas/
The Dallas Police Dept. wants to know from the Dallas District Attorney how their procedures need to be changed to avoid future dismissals. The Dallas Police Dept. wants to be able to arrest and have successful prosecutions in the future.
So at this time there is no record or published policy change that the Dallas Police Dept. would not raid The Club or another Gay establishment upon citizen complaint. There is no record that if such a raid on an LGBT establishment did occur that the Dallas Police Department would not want prosecution. At the meeting of the Cathedral of Hope regarding public safety of the immediate neighborhood of what is known as The Strip, a section along Cedar Springs were there are LGBT businesses, and Cathedral of Hope, the idea was that a police visit was necessarily going to be bringing security, whereas the record shows that this may not be true. A Dallas Police Dept. visit might be the cause of insecurity instead.
My interests includes more than the security of the LGBT in the City of Dallas today and in the future or writing the history of The Club raids in 2010. Incidentally, the raid is considered of world historical importance. The last time a major raid had occurred on a Gay bathhouse in the United States was in 1981 according to The Advocate.
https://www.advocate.com/politics/2018/2/02/30-infamous-police-raids-gay-bars-and-bathhouses
The world soccer games of 2026 are to be held in Dallas and Houston. I have gotten inquiries about the security of persons visiting Texas and Dallas specifically during the games. To the British public, the difference between Texas and Qatar is not that much. That is they are both seen as fundamentalist states.
One of the issues for the world soccer games in Qatar was that it wasn’t a safe place for LGBT. The question asked me was Texas a safe place for LGBT.
At this time I would have to say there is a possibility that there could be a raid on a Gay establishment.
I prefer communication in writing in such matters. I like to have things on record.
Further, all the Dallas Voice online articles, were submitted to the Internet Archive. So even if the Dallas Voice online website vanishes, the material is at the internet Archive.
You merely have to put the URL into the WayBackMachine form and press Enter.
Regards,
Edward H. Sebesta
Video of me asking the question at the Cathedral of Hope meeting Jan. 18, 2024.
I got my references mixed up, but my basic point remains the same. I hadn’t expected them to show up and so I didn’t have my notes on me. I am still working on the next drafter of the report when I get the response to my Freedom of Information Act inquiry. ( I have paid the $67.50 fee for it.)
This is the report on the 2010 Bathhouse raid in Dallas
The whole investigation into the Bath house raids is being tracked here.
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