Mark Davis: City must learn lesson on free speech after canceling detransitioner event | Opinion

It would have been a conversation-starter of a morning April 20 at the Victory Forest Community Center on Hemphill Street in Fort Worth. An event was on the schedule featuring Abel Garcia, who attempted a transgender journey from manhood to womanhood in 2016, at the age of 19 in southern California.

Quickly affirmed in his decision by a therapist, Garcia says he was soon surrounded by activists who pushed him toward conversion even if family members sought to convince him otherwise. Garcia concluded by age 22 that he had made a horrible mistake. He regretted the breast surgery and estrogen injections he endured in what he now sees as a dangerous and ill-advised course of action.

Living in Texas now, Garcia speaks at various events and before state legislatures sharing his story, which constitutes one side of an obviously contentious debate. One can imagine attendees at the April 20 event would have been opponents of trans ideology, interested in the testimony of a man whose opposition carries particularly informed weight.

But the event was shut down by the Fort Worth Parks and Recreation Department in a scolding email two days before. The message refers to a conversation with the sponsoring organization, Latinos United for Conservative Action, noting the event’s purpose was intended “to educate the audience about the dangers of transgenderism and not intended to discriminate.”

And the event, of course, did not do so. All were welcome to hear Garcia’s message on the hazards of transgenderism, which he argues is a risk to everyone, irrespective of race, creed or political beliefs.

But that message clearly raised the antennae of the censors at Parks and Rec, who appear to have combed through the Latinos United for Conservative Action website in search of a basis to shut down an event they could not stomach. Told that their “stated beliefs” do not comply with department policies and procedures regarding use of space, the group learned that the city of Fort Worth considers them guilty of discrimination for the following statement:

“We stand firmly against men who identify as women competing against women in sports, or using women’s restrooms, changing rooms or other facilities, where women should enjoy their privacy.”

In other words, a belief held by a large majority of Americans, especially in Texas, gets you branded as a bigot at Fort Worth Parks and Rec.

Reeling from that smear, the group was pleased to hear at the last minute from 12th Congressional District candidate John O’Shea, who hosted the event in his office space, welcoming a number of people presumably held in similarly low regard by some city officials.

Ultimately, it matters not one bit what any random bureaucrats think of events held on city property. But it starts to matter dauntingly when a city silences voices based on a desperate reach like this. The only discrimination on display here was practiced by the Parks and Rec department against a viewpoint that dared to challenge the favored dogma of city management.

Carlos Turcios, a Fort Worth conservative activist who is Texas director of Latinos United for Conservative Action, told me that the group’s broad objections directed to City Hall were met at first with just a few light, halting acknowledgments that basic rights had been trampled. It took until Tuesday for Mayor Mattie Parker to weigh in.

“I believe democracy and free speech go hand in hand,” she began, “and I share your concerns about how the situation was handled because it is a slippery slope when government restricts free speech.” Strong start, flawed finish. A “slippery slope” is a metaphor for potential danger. In this case, the danger was real. The city nuked an event it disagreed with.

Laying responsibility for event bookings at the feet of “city management,” Parker blamed “unclear policies and inattention to detail,” concluding properly that “I have made it clear to city management that I disagree with the decision.”

For those words to have meaning, every city department must be instructed immediately that organizers of events of any political persuasion will not have their beliefs cherry-picked for triggers that can be baselessly weaponized against them to suppress their views.

Mark Davis hosts a morning radio show in Dallas-Fort Worth on 660-AM and at 660amtheanswer.com. Follow him on X: @markdavis .

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