Just over a week after Fort Worth’s Human Relations Commission took the next step in creating an LGBTQ advisory subcommittee, City Council members have taken opposing stances on the committee’s creation, its role in city government and its necessity in Fort Worth.
The new subcommittee is advisory in nature and will focus on addressing concerns of the LGBTQ community, identifying equal opportunities for LGBTQ residents and providing education on LGBTQ topics. It will report to the Human Relations Commission, a council-appointed board of volunteers. Commission members said the committee is intended to inform and advise City Council and the city manager on matters related to the LGBTQ community.
After the Report published a Sept. 19 article detailing the committee’s creation, council members Macy Hill and Alan Blaylock weighed in on social media, saying they are “deeply concerned” and suggesting that city staff were “pushing their own personal and political agendas.”
In response to their comments, council members Elizabeth Beck, Chris Nettles, Jeanette Martinez and Jared Williams published a joint statement Sept. 24 stating their solidarity with the Human Relations Commission and its “ability to establish subcommittees to advise them on specific topics including those impacting the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Nettles told the Report he was concerned when he read Hill’s and Blaylock’s comments, which he said are indicative of a larger issue pertaining to matters of diversity and inclusion in Fort Worth.
“I think there are some council members that do not want diversity and inclusion here in the city of Fort Worth, and I think there are some council members that want us to go back to this cowtown, country city and not be as diverse as we are,” Nettles said.
The Report contacted all council members for their thoughts on the committee and their colleagues’ comments. District 3 council member Michael Crain declined to comment but said he was not asked to sign the statement published by Beck, Nettles, Martinez and Williams. Council members Charles Lauersdorf, Carlos Flores, Gyna Bivens and Martinez did not return requests for comment.
Hill did not return the Report’s request for comment on her colleagues’ statement, and Blaylock declined to comment, saying his schedule was full.
Committee’s creation prompts concern from Hill, Blaylock
The Human Relations Commission formally established the new LGBTQ subcommittee in January. However, it wasn’t until their Sept. 16 meeting that commissioners took the next step to appoint Jonah Murray as liaison. Murray, who represents District 11 on the commission, also serves as the treasurer for Finn’s Place, a nonprofit community center that serves transgender people in Fort Worth.
“Every spark of change, everything starts at the local level. That’s something that I really believe in,” Murray previously told the Report. “And as a trans person, and particularly as a white, male-presenting trans person, I have so much more privilege than a lot of other trans people, and I feel a responsibility to use my voice in a way that can lift up the rest of my community.”
He declined to comment Sept. 25, pointing to his previous comments on the committee’s creation. Last week, they described the committee as a step forward for the city, especially as LGBTQ community members report heightened concern over discrimination and civil rights protections.
What is the Human Relations Commission?
The city’s Human Relations Commission, created in 1967 and formerly known as the Community Relations Commission, is an 11-member board of volunteers who advise the City Council and city manager’s office on matters involving racial, religious and ethnic discrimination. The commission is intended to recommend measures to eliminate prejudice and discrimination and promote communications and cooperations to better community relations, according to the city’s website.
The commission meets on a monthly basis, and its meetings are open to the public. Commission members are recommended by department heads and approved by the council, according to the website.
Following the Report’s coverage of the committee, Hill shared the article on Facebook and said it was the first time she had heard about the advisory committee.
“I am deeply concerned that city staff appear to be pushing their own personal and political agendas rather than holding the Human Relations Commission (HRC) accountable to fulfill the responsibilities they were appointed to carry out,” Hill wrote in the Sept. 20 post. “HRC plays a vital role in addressing critical issues affecting our community, and their work must remain focused.”
Blaylock shared Hill’s post, writing that he concurs with her concerns and had voiced his own to city management.
“This staff-led decision, made without notifying the City Council, is yet another troubling example of an unnecessary and harmful distraction from the vital work we are entrusted to carry out for our community,” Blaylock wrote. “Our focus should remain on delivering excellent city services, not advancing personal agendas.”
Mayor Mattie Parker said in a written statement to the Report that she did not initiate the creation of the new committee, and she was not aware of its formation before the Report’s inquiry.
“I have always maintained an open-door policy and welcome the opportunity to meet with any group, formal committee or constituency to ensure our city remains welcoming to all,” Parker said. “I previously had full confidence in the Human Relations Commission (HRC) to fulfill this important role, as that is their charge. … Regardless, my commitment to being accessible to all members of the community remains unchanged.”
She added that any questions about the committee’s necessity should be directed to the Human Relations Commission’s chair Karen Johnson or Christina Brooks, director of the city’s diversity and inclusion department.
Johnson did not return a request for comment, and Brooks declined to comment.
Brooks previously told the Report the committee would move the city forward in a way that is welcoming to all Fort Worth residents.
“You are talking about a segment of the population who is sometimes invisible, and so this is an opportunity to make sure that their voices are heard on important issues within our community,” she previously said. “It’s kind of like asking, ‘Why is there oxygen?’ Because it’s necessary for people to function. When you hear from multiple groups of people and understand different perspectives, we make better decisions as a city.”
Four members come out in support of LGBTQ committee
Beck, who represents District 9, told the Report she chose to issue the statement on the committee because she felt as if her council colleagues were targeting the LGBTQ community, and that alarmed her.
“There’s one thing to be full throated in support of something. There’s another thing to be neutral (about) its existence,” Beck said. “I can live with neutrality. I cannot live with people seeking to squash our community’s support or the inclusion of any marginalized community. Full stop.”
She said she believes the purpose of the committee is “to better understand the unique needs of a subset of our community” — and she doesn’t see an issue with that.
In separate interviews with the Report, Beck, Nettles and Williams pointed to various instances over the last two years that illustrated the city’s need to be more inclusive, understanding and supportive of the LGBTQ community in Fort Worth. Those instances included council’s decision not to issue a proclamation recognizing the work of various LGBTQ-serving nonprofits during Pride month in June 2024. The year before, Parker’s decision to remove an LGBTQ Pride badge from her annual summer reading program prompted public criticism from several residents.
Earlier this year, the city earned headlines for its decision to issue an event permit to a conservative political action group at a city-owned community center on the “impact of LGBT ideology, the social contagion of transgenderism, and the dangers of pornography.” The incident, along with other controversial event permits, led to city staff overturning a ban on discriminatory events at city-owned facilities.
Williams, who represents District 6, said that as of Sept. 25, the council hasn’t discussed the new subcommittee as a group. However, he felt compelled to speak out about what he described as injustice for Fort Worth’s LGBTQ residents.
“While we haven’t had conversations with council directly about this subcommittee, we’ve had conversations quite frequently within the past year related to the LGBTQIA+ community that have not necessarily, in my opinion, always centered our LGBTQIA community and their well-being,” Williams said.
Boards, commissions and committees are needed to hold the council accountable and ensure a diversity of perspectives are heard and considered, Williams added.
“This subcommittee is needed, and many more subcommittees are needed to ensure that liberty and justice is accessible to every single resident,” he said. “It’s anti-democratic to shut down those conversations.”
Nettles echoed Williams’ concerns and added that the Human Relations Commission was well within its purview to establish an advisory subcommittee. In addition to the LGBTQ committee, the commission created the Mayor’s Committee on Persons with Disabilities in 2016 to increase public awareness of the abilities of persons with disabilities and promote employment opportunities and housing accessibility, according to the city’s website.
In Nettles’ opinion, Hill and Blaylock undermined city staff’s authority and capability in doing their jobs. The Human Relations Commission reports and provides recommendations to the city’s diversity and inclusion department.
“Their comments on social media were a direct attack on staff, and the staff who oversees that commission is diversity and inclusion,” Nettles said. “To me, there was an undertone of, ‘This is why we don’t need the diversity and inclusion department.’”
Meetings, council briefing on commission’s work to come
After hearing about a Sept. 24 meeting Hill and Blaylock had with city management and diversity and inclusion staff about the issue, Nettles said he and Beck have requested a meeting with the same staff. Hill and Blaylock could not be reached to confirm the meeting took place.
“I need to be informed on any actions that may and could happen, immediately,” Nettles said. “I’m not going to be blindsided by anything that takes place.”
Nettles added that Bivens has asked Human Relations Commission members to deliver a report and presentation to the City Council on their role with the city and what they have accomplished in the last few years. Council will receive that briefing within the next month, Nettles said. Bivens did not respond to a request for comment.
Williams said he will continue to stand firmly with the Human Relations Commission and its decision to establish the subcommittee.
“As long as I’m a council member, I’ll speak for inclusivity,” Williams said. “I’ll do everything I can to ensure that the process upholds the autonomy of commissions and boards and advisory committees in the city to not only hold City Council accountable, but also to elevate a vision that helps the city and the City Council to advance a just and prosperous city.”
Nettles, Beck and Williams voiced similar sentiments of wanting to find a path forward that clearly communicates a welcoming and inclusive environment to the LGBTQ community.
“It’s 2024. I, for the life of me, cannot understand why we are still fighting the battle of acceptance of the LGBTQ community in the city of Fort Worth, the 12th largest city in the nation,” Beck said. “Moving forward, I’d like to see people just have more tolerance and acceptance, and not come after our LGBTQ community.”
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or @bycecilialenzen.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.