City of Fort Worth staff are working on updates to the municipality’s policy on hosting private events at city-owned facilities.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the right-leaning grassroots organization True Texas Project (TTP), which advocates for citizen engagement on a range of issues, was allowed to put on a conference at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, but only after officials reversed a previous decision to back out of hosting the event following backlash from left-leaning media.
Reyne Telles, Fort Worth’s chief communications officer, told the Fort Worth Report that city staff are still reviewing the policy and are not prepared to provide any updates.
At a July meeting of the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission, commission members said they planned to send a statement to the mayor and city council expressing their disappointment that TTP was allowed to host the event.
“I do not believe this body has to be silent. In fact, I think it speaks volumes when we are,” commission chair Karen Johnson said, per FWR. “We have every right to inform the council and our mayor that the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission opposes hate speech toward the LGBTQIA+ community, opposes hate speech toward the BIPOC community, and hate speech toward all.”
However, as previously reported by DX, there was no alleged hate speech by the TTP attendees at the conference; the only hate speech came from protestors outside the venue.
Some Fort Worth residents have criticized the city and believe it should support the First Amendment by allowing the use of city-owned facilities without discriminating on the basis of political affiliation or viewpoint.
“The Constitution means a lot to some of us,” Fort Worth resident Donna Collins told DX, claiming that people may be making assumptions about TPP and forming hate speech narratives.
Fort Worth businesswoman Cheryl Bean emphasized the importance of free speech.
“Events are a forum for free speech on a selected topic. First Amendment rights should never be violated by preventing an event to occur because a city representative disagrees with the event holders’ perspective as long as laws are not broken,” Bean told DX.
The Dallas Express contacted the city’s Communications & Public Engagement Department but did not receive a response by publication.
