As Rainbow Lounge Raid Story Spreads Across Country, Many Interviews with Chad Gibson

More than a week later, the Rainbow Lounge raid continues to make national headlines.Yesterday, The New York Times revisited the Rainbow Lounge raid; this morning, the Los Angeles Times pays a visit to Fort Worth, where residents are still coming to terms with the impact of the incident. Making a...

By Robert Wilonsky

July 6, 2009

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More than a week later, the Rainbow Lounge raid continues to make national headlines.Yesterday, The New York Times revisited the Rainbow Lounge raid; this morning, the Los Angeles Times pays a visit to Fort Worth, where residents are still coming to terms with the impact of the incident. Making a cameo is former Dallas Times Herald reporter Mark Potok, now with the Southern Poverty Law Center, who, like countless others before him, is stunned at the timing of the raid on the gay bar -- on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn incident that led to the gay-rights movement: "It was strange that all this happened on that night of all nights. If it was a simple mistake, then it was a very, very foolish one."

But WFAA-Channel 8 last night had The Big Story: the first interview with Chad Gibson, who was hospitalized for a week after the raid with a skull fracture and who still has a blood clot on his brain, just behind his right eye. For the first time, Gibson offers his take on the incident: "They have blamed it on me, that I was drunk [and] that I hit my head," he said. "I groped the officer. I did this. I did that. You know what? No ... Accept responsibility."

Update: Many thanks to those Friends of Unfair Park working at KTVT-Channel 11 and KXAS-Channel 5, who've sent word this morning of their own interviews with Gibson. Channel 5's video follows after the jump.

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