David Mack Henderson: Queer Pioneer at UTA

The purpose of The Compass Rose is to raise awareness of Special Collections' resources and to foster the use of these resources. The blog series also reports significant new programs, initiatives, and acquisitions of Special Collections.  

This post was co-authored by Special Collections Photograph Collections Coordinator Sara Pezzoni and Digital Archivist Kathryn Slover. Special thanks to Public Services Archivist Evan Spencer for research assistance. 

In celebration of Pride Month, this blog post commemorates David Mack Henderson, who was an activist, advocate, mentor, and leader in the Fort Worth LGBTQ+ community. 

David Mack Henderson (1960-2016) was born in Hurst, Texas to G. David and Janet Lawson Henderson. As a student attending L.D. Bell High School, Henderson was involved in choir, band, theater, and the school's spirit group, the "Blue Rowdies." Henderson graduated from L.D. Bell in spring 1978 and went on to enroll at UTA that fall. He joined the UTA Freshman Advisory Council shortly after beginning at UTA and was soon thereafter elected to serve as the Sam Maverick spirit mascot at football games and other events on campus. 

TWT interviewed Henderson about a year and a half later as a follow up to his prior columns in the November 13-19, 1981 edition of TWT.² He recounted the harassment encountered from fraternity and sorority members on campus. This interview also details how Henderson was spurred into action by these events, leading to the formation of the Gay/Lesbian Association (GLA) of the University of Texas at Arlington, the first of its kind on campus and one of the first LGBT groups officially recognized by a school in Texas.³ The group's constitution was signed and adopted on December 20, 1980 and approved by the university's Committee on Student Organizations on January 30, 1981. Article I of the GLA's constitution stated the purpose of the group as “primarily to provide social, political and service functions to its members and secondly to heighten awareness in the community of the special characteristics, concerns, and needs of its homosexual members.” 

Henderson served as secretary to the group until resigning in May 1981. Other founding members of GLA included Stephen M. Hall, president; Fred Hahn, vice president; and Charles V. Gremillion, treasurer. Topics discussed at the first group meeting, held on January 25, 1981, included setting up a liaison at the DGPC (Dallas Gay Political Caucus, later the Dallas Gay Alliance) and TCGPC (Tarrant County Gay Political Caucus, later the Tarrant County Gay Alliance); compiling a list of all gay organizations and "friends of gays" for use by the group; running an ad in the Shorthorn for recruiting new members; a suggestion to invite State Rep. Bob McFarland to the next Executive Board meeting; and a suggestion to purchase a house for "meetings, counseling, etc."

Henderson began his lifelong fight for equality rights during his time as a student at UTA. In 1983, he transferred to North Texas State University (NTSU, now the University of North Texas, UNT) and served as president of the NTSU Gay-Lesbian Student Support Group on campus.⁴ He also joined NTSU's Student Association in 1983, serving as Financial Director of the group, and ran unsuccessfully for Student Association President the following year.^{5, 6}

After his time at NTSU, Henderson became more involved in the Dallas Gay Alliance (DGA). Henderson had originally joined the group in 1980 (as referenced in his June 1980 TWT column) and was elected to a five-year term as a DGA board member/director in 1985. The following year, in July 1986, Henderson signed as an incorporator of the Lesbian/Gay Political Coalition of Dallas (LGPCD), which was formed from the DGA.⁷ He returned to UTA to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music in 1989. Henderson left Texas for about 20 years and returned in 2009, just before the Rainbow Lounge Raid.  

On June 28, 2009, the 40th anniversary of Stonewall uprising, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the Fort Worth Police Department raided the Rainbow Lounge, a gay bar in Fort Worth. The site of the Rainbow Lounge was also the former home of other gay bars in Fort Worth’s history. In response, people who were at the Rainbow Lounge the night of the raid started an awareness campaign and it became national news. Henderson was one of the first to start protesting and one of the founding members of Fairness Fort Worth, an organization working toward equality for the LGBTQ+ community on a local and state level.⁸

Attorney Jon Nelson announced the formation of Fairness Fort Worth at a July 8, 2009 press conference held at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden; "Nelson said that the initial impetus for the formation of Fairness Fort Worth was to help facilitate the process for witnesses to the Rainbow Lounge raid to come forward and give testimony in the three investigations... The group’s long-term goal is to bring together a broad-based coalition of community, civic and government leaders to facilitate communication and cooperation between the different segments of the city to keep such incidents from happening again in the future, Nelson said."⁹

Fairness Fort Worth negotiated with city and police officials and made significant advances for the LGBTQ+ community in Fort Worth, including: 

• The creation of a diversity task force led by the City Manager 
• Mandatory diversity and sensitivity training for all Fort Worth Police Department officers 
• All Fort Worth city employees, without regard to sexual orientation, were included in the benefit program 
• City tourism began advertising gay-owned businesses 
• Domestic partner benefits were made available for the employees of DFW Airport 
• Gender identity and expression were added as a protected class in Fort Worth's non-discrimination ordinance 
• In 2011, The Fort Worth Gay Pride parade was invited downtown for the first time in its 30-year history of Pride celebrations 
• On November 8, 2011 the Criminal Justice Department at UTA held a conference attended by the US Justice Department, Equality Texas, and Fairness Fort Worth to establish a model for Law Enforcement Agencies when dealing with LGBT matters focusing on the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act¹⁰

Henderson became President of Fairness Fort Worth in 2013 and served in that capacity until his death in 2016.¹¹

David Mack Henderson's legacy and impact are immeasurable. He was an activist and leader for the LGBTQ+ community from the day he refused to resign as Sam Maverick onward. His work in Fort Worth and Dallas changed the political landscape for the better and his advocacy for inclusive student groups at UTA and NTSU was a catalyst for change on those campuses. 

Henderson passed away on December 3, 2016 after a 4-month battle with esophageal cancer. In tribute to Henderson, the editorial board of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote on December 7, 2016 that "he worked tirelessly to give the [LGBTQ] community a voice both locally and nationally...with Henderson, the Fort Worth LGBTQ community made strides in inclusivity and equality. He gave the community a proud, strong voice and leaders who can make sure that Henderson's work continues."¹² 

He was posthumously honored with a resolution by the Fort Worth ISD Board of Trustees on January 24, 2017 for his "significant contributions to the educational landscape for Fort Worth's LGBT students...identify[ing] training materials for teachers and counselors working with LGBT students...mentor[ing] LGBT students at risk of leaving school and work endlessly to provide homeless youth with resources and....provid[ing] service to the Fort Worth Community as President of Fairness Fort Worth."¹³

We chose to honor David Mack Henderson this Pride Month for the significant contributions he made and the impact he had in the local community and at the University of Texas at Arlington. The formation of UTA's first university-sponsored gay student organization is an important piece of university history. While researching for this blog post, archivists found few "official" UTA records documenting Henderson's time on campus. In fact, the historical experiences of LGBTQ+ students at UTA are largely undocumented in the University Archives. It is important to remember that underrepresented histories are often not found in official accounts and archives because conscious decisions were made not to document and collect these important stories. UTA Special Collections is working to fill these gaps in our university history collections.  

UTA Special Collections is assembling a timeline of LGBTQ+ history at UTA. If you have any information or important dates to share in contribution to this effort, please comment on this blog post or email spcoref@uta.edu. We would like to encourage all friends and family members of David Mack Henderson to please share your memories of him with us in the comment section below, as this will also help build our growing Tarrant County LGBTQ+ History Collection, for which we are currently accepting donations!

¹ Henderson, David, "UT Arlington Mascot Asked to Resign Because He’s Gay," This Week in Texas, June 20-26, 1980, 21. 

² "David Henderson," Texas Obituary Project: Online Searchable Obituary Database, https://www.texasobituaryproject.org/120316henderson.html. 

³ Taffet, David, "An activist, a mentor, a friend," Dallas Voice, Vol. 33 No. 31, December 9, 2016, The Portal to Texas History, 15, crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections. 

⁴ KXAS-TV (Television station : Fort Worth, Tex.). [News Clip: Gay students], video, October 5, 1983; Fort Worth, Texas. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.

⁵ "Student Elections," The North Texas Daily, April 13, 1984, 7. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections. 

⁶ Shelton, Robert, "Graham, Garland win SA presidential election," The North Texas Daily, April 20, 1984, 1. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections. 

⁷ Texas. Secretary of State. [LGPCD State of Texas corporation charter], text, July 24, 1986; Dallas, TX. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections. 

⁸ "Fairness Fort Worth," The Dallas Way: an LGBTQ history project, May 10, 2015, Fairness Fort Worth — The Dallas Way. 

⁹ Nash, Tammye, "New group forms in wake of raid at club," Dallas Voice, July 10, 2009, 11. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections. 

¹⁰ "Fairness Fort Worth," The Dallas Way: an LGBTQ history project, May 10, 2015, Fairness Fort Worth — The Dallas Way. 

¹¹ "David Mack Henderson named president of Fairness Fort Worth," Dallas Voice, July 26, 2013.

¹² "Henderson: Champion for LBGTQ community," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 7, 2016.

¹³ Fort Worth Independent School District Board of Trustees Resolution, January 24, 2017.