There are Some Unnerving Crime Incidents Against LGBTQ in Sacramento
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| Sacramento LGBT Community Center officials reported that an attempt was made to take down the Pride flag, shown here in May, hanging outside its building in November. |
by John Ferrannini, Assistant Editor
Bay Area Reporter
The Sacramento LGBT Community Center is holding a town hall Tuesday, December 16, following a series of violent, troubling incidents in the city’s queer neighborhood. The meeting will feature Sacramento police, the Midtown Association, and Sacramento District 4 City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum, who represents Lavender Heights, the city’s LGBTQ neighborhood.
The most serious incident, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, was the severe beating November 1 of gay Sacramentan Alvin Prasad outside the Badlands Sacramento LGBTQ nightclub in Lavender Heights, a small neighborhood in midtown Sacramento anchored at 20th and K streets, just east of the California State Capitol.
Sean Wesley Payton Jr., 24, was arrested in connection with the incident, and he will be in Sacramento County Superior Court, also on December 16, for bail review, a pretrial release hearing, and a preliminary hearing. Sacramento Police are investigating whether a hate crime occurred.
Prasad is on life support in a coma, facing the prospect of permanent brain damage. His daughter, Andrea Prasad, stated December 5 that he has been moved to another hospital. A GoFundMe campaign has raised $12,197 for his expenses.
But according to the center, this isn’t the only incident to strike Lavender Heights in recent months.
“What happened to Alvin is tragic and further evidence of why community members have been feeling less safe, not just in Lavender Heights, but in their every aspect of their daily lives,” David Heitstuman, a gay man who is the center’s executive director, stated to the Bay Area Reporter in an emailed reply.
Other incidents
Among those was an attempt to tear down the center’s rainbow flag November 15.
“Three unknown individuals made multiple attempts to climb the pillars in front of the center and tear down the rainbow flag, which they were ultimately unsuccessful at doing,” Heitstuman stated. “Bystanders reported them using homophobic slurs and a confrontation occurred between the attempted vandals and community members passing by.”
A Sacramento police spokesperson stated, “Just after 1:15 a.m. officers responded to the 1000 block of 20th St. for reports of a possible assault. Responding officers located a disturbance involving multiple individuals. No injuries were reported, the incident was mediated, and the parties were separated. Officers conducted an investigation, and no crime was determined to have occurred at the time.”
Heitstuman stated there were other incidents in downtown and midtown Sacramento during the month of October, but couldn’t speak to specifics.
“I don’t know the specific details of the other incidents involving individuals who were attacked, but the Sacramento Police Department LGBTQ+ liaison made me aware that there were two incidents,” Heitstuman stated.
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