The Abridged version:
- A potential increase in hate incidents has Sacramento’s LGBTQ community worried about the safety of Lavender Heights.
- A community meeting drew about 60 people, some of whom questioned the commitment to inclusivity among businesses.
- Police said they are trying to make incident reporting more accessible to those experiencing hate.
A potential increase in anti-LGBTQ hate incidents in Sacramento’s Midtown has community members worried that the culture of pride and inclusivity is changing in Lavender Heights.
Over 60 people filled the Sacramento LGBT Community Center on Tuesday night for a forum on public safety. It was convened in the aftermath of an alleged hate crime incident that left a local member of the LGBTQ community, 57-year-old Alvin Prasad, in a coma.
Prasad was attacked in the early hours of Nov. 1 after attending Halloween celebrations in Lavender Heights. Law enforcement has since arrested Sean Payton, 24, on assault and hate crime charges, according to the Sacramento Police Department.
The attack continues to weigh heavily on many in the LGBTQ community.
“There’s a direct sense of fear based on when an incident like this occurs, but there’s also this negative rhetoric across the country and a lot of fear for community members more generally,” said David Heitstuman, CEO of the Sacramento LGBT Community Center.
Survey says seven in 10 feel less comfortable
A survey taken earlier this year by the center showed 73% in Sacramento’s LGBTQ community feel less comfortable being out at work and school.
“There was a huge increase in the percentage of people who are experiencing bias-related incidents in their lives, even though they’re not being reported necessarily,” Heitstuman said.
The center has ramped up its own efforts in the last year by encouraging locals to fill out their own hate and bias incident reporting form. The center then reaches out to individuals directly to help them with resources, track patterns and navigate the justice system.
So far this year, the center has received about seven reports of incidents, according to Romel Antoine, director of advocacy and training.
Pride concerns hit Lavender Heights
For Neil Galimba, Lavender Heights is one of the few places where the LGBTQ community can walk around without having to look over their shoulder. In recent weeks, however, Galimba said he’s seen both friends and clients of his Midtown-based business experience violent attacks.
“This small district is our safety zone that we’ve built over the last 40 years through our heart, sweat and effort,” Galimba said at the town hall meeting. Over the last decade, though, Galimba said the area has changed.
“I don’t want to sound like a hater, (but) it’s become more hetero. We feel like guests in our own community. I don’t even feel like these are gay bars anymore.”
Neil Galimba, Midtown business owner
Other attendees at the town hall accused businesses of putting up rainbow flags only during pride week.
“We’ve put ‘Safe Space’ stickers in the windows of retail businesses in Midtown, these folks have no freaking idea what that means,” said Fred Palmer, CEO of the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce. “They’re putting a sticker in there because they want our money. … There’s no training.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Palmer said the entire business community needs to have more ownership over the safety concerns being voiced.
Police want more reporting
David Do saw a group of four men attempt to tear down the rainbow flag above the Sacramento LGBT Community Center on a weekend night a month ago, he recalled.
After confronting the men, Do said one of them tried to spit on his friend. When Do’s group called for the police “the police response was extremely homophobic as well,” he said.
Sgt. Jon Houston, with the Sacramento Police Department, said that he looked into the body-camera footage immediately after the incident and forwarded the information to the captain in charge of the officers.
“Ironically enough, those are the same officers that hunted down and captured Alvin’s attacker,” Houston said.
Houston added that more efforts are underway to make bias and hate crime incident reporting more accessible. Houston, who leads the department’s LGBTQ+ Liaison Unit, said the department wants to have a more visible presence in Lavender Heights.
Are the gay bars less gay?
Headlines warning of shrinking “gayborhoods” and the “end of gay culture” have circulated for decades. In 2014, sociologist Amin Ghaziani published “There Goes the Gayborhood,” arguing that as acceptance of the LGBTQ community has grown, LGBTQ people have been able to expand their lives outside of historic LGBTQ neighborhoods like the Castro in San Francisco or Greenwich Village in New York. Those neighborhoods, in turn, have seen more gentrification, with corporate storefronts replacing LGBTQ-friendly small businesses.
“Things are different, but the bars are still gay bars. Everyone gets along a lot better,” said TJ Bruce, who owns local gay bars Badlands, The Depot and Roscoe’s Bar and Burgers.
Bruce said that he welcomes the change, as it means that there’s more acceptance of the LGBTQ community. Times have also changed, he said, as more people turn to apps for dating and the bars aren’t the only place for the LGBTQ community to meet up. His bars now play more of a role of a “community living room,” Bruce said.
Bruce said he isn’t seeing an increase in hate incidents at his bars but notices that the issue is resonating with locals.
“Is there a bigger risk that we’re not attending to? I think the Police Department does a pretty good job, but when this happens I think everyone has to stand up and do a better job,” Bruce said.
“You just got to let people know it’s a gay bar, have a few more drag queens and a few more go-gos,” he said.
Is political climate to blame?
Lexi Howard remembers the days when Sacramento’s gay bars had blacked out windows to ensure the privacy of their patrons. The corner of 20th and K streets in Midtown wasn’t always the proud center of nightlife that locals know today, she recalled.
She blamed the increased concerns on the political environment, especially as the president has ramped up attacks on the LGBTQ community.
“How much of that is Lavender Heights losing some of its joy versus our nation losing its soul?” Howard asked.
She said that the current political environment has allowed people who may have been quiet about their hostility toward the LGBTQ community to be more open. She said she was encouraged by the dedication that leaders and community members showed at the meeting and hopes that people continue to show up.
“We are family. We need to figure out how we look out for each other,” Howard said.
Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She’s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets.