Tarrant County commissioners voted along partisan lines Tuesday to reject a resolution honoring the county\u2019s largest health center focused on LGBTQ services.<\/p>\n
The resolution was drafted to commend Arlington\u2019s HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health for \u201coutstanding service, compassionate care and enduring contributions to the health, dignity and wellness of the people of Tarrant County.\u201d In 2025, the center administered more than $70 million worth of medication, clinical services and supportive care to 7,000 patients for free.<\/p>\n
The court\u2019s three Republicans \u2014 County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare and commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez \u2014 voted against the resolution. Democratic commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles were the yes votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more work to be done to let everybody know exactly what we do and not allow people lying about what we do to reach elected officials,\u201d HELP Center CEO DeeJay Johannessen told the Fort Worth Report after the vote.<\/p>\n
The decision came after commissioners heard from more than a dozen speakers, the majority of whom spoke about the value of LGBTQ-centered health services and urged commissioners to approve the resolution.<\/p>\n
A handful of people testified against, saying the resolution\u2019s adoption would contradict \u201cbiblical values.\u201d Those sentiments were echoed by O\u2019Hare and Krause, who jointly introduced a resolution celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. that said the country was founded \u201cin the Judeo-Christian tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the business of the court to put the county\u2019s name and seal behind a divisive social agenda that glorifies a group that supports transitioning children,\u201d O\u2019Hare said. \u201cOur responsibility is to protect children \u2014 not sacrifice them in the name of ideological advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before voting, he read aloud a list of events and programming he alleged the center had promoted or hosted, including National Kink Day, International Nonbinary People\u2019s Day and Polyamory Day, plus a fundraising concert to provide grants to transgender people seeking out-of-state healthcare.<\/p>\n
Simmons, who introduced the resolution praising the center, said it was \u201ccertainly not\u201d about advocating for or supporting medical transition for transgender children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis resolution did not ask the court to endorse a political viewpoint,\u201d Simmons wrote in a statement published after the vote. \u201cIt asked the court to recognize service, acknowledge results and honor an organization that has improved lives across Tarrant County.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simmons and O\u2019Hare are opponents on the ballot in November<\/a>, running against each other for the countywide judge seat O\u2019Hare currently holds.<\/p>\n Resolutions are statements read aloud during commissioners meetings to ceremonially honor or recognize events, individuals and milestones in Tarrant County. Any commissioner may introduce a resolution, but they require majority approval to be presented to the recipient.<\/p>\n Simmons\u2019 resolution Tuesday commended the HELP Center for preventing an estimated 200 new HIV transmissions annually. It described the center as a \u201ccultural home\u201d for the LGBTQ community, noting that the center also sponsors Trinity Pride in Fort Worth, now the county\u2019s largest Pride celebration after Arlington Pride was canceled in response<\/a> to the city suspending its anti-discrimination protections.<\/p>\n During the meeting, commissioners unanimously approved six other resolutions, including one that recognized June as Responsible Fatherhood Month and another that honored \u201cgrandmother of Juneteenth\u201d Opal Lee and supporters of the National Juneteenth Museum under development in Fort Worth<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ramirez was absent at the start of the meeting but joined via video call moments before the vote on the HELP Center resolution. His chief of staff, Tracey Knight, said via text message the commissioner is out of town on business and joined the meeting as soon as he could.<\/p>\n Krause thanked speakers for attending \u2014 telling audience members he appreciated their signs that read \u201cshame\u201d \u2014 but said he ultimately couldn\u2019t support the resolution because the HELP Center offers gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile that sounds really nice, I think it actually does more harm than good,\u201d Krause said. \u201cThe gender-affirming care piece actually does more harm than people realize.\u201d<\/p>\n The HELP Center does not serve children or offer surgery, Johannessen said. The center doesn\u2019t promote anything other than access to healthcare, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t promote transitioning or not transitioning,\u201d Johannessen said. \u201cWhat we promote is access to services and access to care, where you can make the best informed choice for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Fort Worth resident Reed Bilz told commissioners about her now-adult transgender son, who left Tarrant County to seek gender-affirming care in California where he now lives.<\/p>\n \u201cThese services are needed for disease control and medical assistance to a valued population of our community,\u201d Bilz said. \u201cI fully support the presentation of this resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n David Malone, president of the Mid-Cities Stonewall Democrats, thanked Simmons for her support of the LGBTQ community and urged the other commissioners to join her.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be neighbors and get along and live peacefully with the conservative Christians, MAGA Republicans,\u201d Malone said.<\/p>\n Chris Cheema, a pastor at Mercy Culture Church, referenced the Ten Commandments monument outside the county courthouse<\/a>, just across the street from where the meeting took place. Honoring the HELP Center would contradict those commandments, he said, adding a slogan frequently used by members of his church: \u201cIt\u2019s not political, it\u2019s spiritual.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cEvery commissioner who votes yes today is not simply endorsing healthcare \u2014 they are formally commending an organization that promotes sexual perversion, affirms mental illness as identity and advances the very lifestyle driving the sexually transmitted disease crisis in this country,\u201d Cheema said.<\/p>\n Miles did not speak before voting in favor. Earlier in the meeting, he wished Tarrant County\u2019s LGBTQ residents a \u201cwarm and happy\u201d Pride month, which is observed annually in June.<\/p>\n \u201cTarrant County is a place where every resident, regardless of who they are or who they love, they deserve to feel seen, heard and valued and protected,\u201d Miles said.<\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tarrant County commissioners voted along partisan lines Tuesday to reject a resolution honoring the county\u2019s largest health center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-330683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}