In Brownsville, a coastal town of about 140,000 people that sits next to the Texas/Mexico border, fire investigators are looking for an arsonist who torched a gay bar that had been open for only two months.

The Heart Rock Club, a sports bar in a former life, went up in flames at about 4 a.m., on Sunday, July 24. Fire officials said six fire trucks spent the better part of the early morning extinguishing the blaze.

When the fire was finally tapped out, officials said although the exterior of the club appeared to have sustained minimal damage, the inside was completely gutted. In addition to the fire, investigators said, the club was vandalized before the fire was set.

The Heart Rock Club opened on May 20, with a rainbow flag draped over its entry.

At the time, club owner Sylvia Armente told the Brownsville Herald, “We accept all kinds of people. We use the rainbow logo because it is well known among the local gay community.”

By opening the club, she said she hoped to “create an environment where people can enjoy themselves and not hide who they are.”

As flames ravaged her business on July 23, a Herald reporter asked her whether she considered the fire a hate crime, and she replied, “What else could it be?”

Emiliano Diaz de Leon, director of the Men’s Resource Center, a support group for gay and bisexual men, told the Voice that if arsonists torched the club to intimidate gays in Brownsville, they most likely defeated their purpose.

“Our hope is to organize around this incident,” he said. “Hopefully we can host some sort of dialogue about hate crimes.”

De Leon said several newcomers attended the Resource Center’s weekly Monday night meeting this week and some said they came in response to the Heart Rock fire.

Mobilizing gays
“For this to happen in Brownsville, this is very frightening to us,” he said. “It’s generated a lot of fear and anger, but it’s also mobilizing our local gay and lesbian community.”

De Leon said gays in Brownsville tend to be fairly closeted.

Although damage to interior of the Heart Rock Club is extensive, Fire Marshal Ben Nunez said the exterior was not badly damaged.

The morning of the fire, Armente told the Herald that while the club had experienced no specific threats, there had been a few random acts of vandalism, including broken lights.

“Everyone’s friendly here,” she said, “but other people pass by and say nasty things.”

Fire investigators said several cans of gasoline appear to have been used to start fires on the floor and on furnishings throughout the cinderblock building.

“There were multiple fires throughout that building,” Brownsville Fire Marshal Ben Nuñez told the Voice. “They poured quite a lot of gasoline inside there.”

From the moment investigators entered the bar, Nuñez said, there was no doubt about the cause. “It was most definitely an arson fire,” he said.

Under Texas law, arson is a second-degree felony punishable by from two to 20 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Nuñez said Brownsville investigators are getting help with the case from the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and from the Texas Fire Marshal’s Office.

“We’re still working on identifying suspects and a motive,” he said. “It’s a big scene. We want to take our time and make sure we do it right.”

Nothing ruled out
The fire marshal said he would not label the fire a hate crime until the investigation is concluded. “We haven’t ruled anything out,” he said.

When it opened, the Heart Rock Club became the second gay club in the city. The manager of Ibiza, the other gay club in Brownsville, told the Herald in May that gays and lesbians in the lower Rio Grande Valley, where the town is located, don’t tend to support gay organizations.

Max Smith said patronage has been up and down. He said just staying afloat is the challenge for gay bars in Brownsville.

Ibiza owners, who also operate a resort and club at South Padre Island in South Texas, closed their Brownsville club prior to the fire at Heart Rock.

The challenge now for the Heart Rock Club will be whether to rebuild.

“It was the best club in town,” Armente said. “If it’s possible, we’ll rebuild.”

Nuñez said since the building did not sustain structural damage, “There’s nothing there that can’t be rebuilt.”

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