MGW: Matthew’s August 8 Newspaper Column

The other day I was listening to a local podcast (internet radio show) produced by two young gay men here in Sacramento. One of them was on his way to 2007’s Sacramento Pride Fair and was speaking about the protesters that were expected to once again attempt to cast a storm cloud over our day.

As he was talking, he told listeners that they were there every year and after all what was a gay pride day without the obligatory anti-gay protesters. I was extremely saddened by this statement. This young community member, just 18 years of age, just recently becoming an active member of the our community equated Sacramento Pride with anti-gay protests.

Yet it was merely three years ago when there was rarely a protester to be seen around Southside Park. Anti-gay protestors consisted of little more than a passing bigot yelling a few slurs as they walked past the outside gate. The most vehement opposition to the fir was the neighbourhood Association complaining about the noise and added traffic.

No, it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t a gay nirvana, but the most we generally had to worry about was sunburns and food vendor price gouging. $7 for a Teriyaki Chicken Stick? C’mon! For years we have felt secure enough to bring our families and friends and enjoy the day seeing old friends and being out and proud without reservation.

Now we have ultraconservative religious zealots dragging their small children around, brandishing anti-gay signs, chanting hate speech and let’s face it—most of them are just bad fashion statements to begin with and bring down the whole look of the place.

Wait. Are you asking a question? I sense you may be. Is the question why? Why now? Why after all these years are we now being inundated with the haters? Listening to the GLBT activists, they’ll tell us that it’s because of the recent massive immigration of Ukrainian Christians. Although this “recent” Ukrainian immigration phenomenon has been going on since the late 1980s. So why did it take them 20 years to figure out where we were?

Well, it all stems back an entire…two years. Yup, it was just two years ago when someone (and I’m not naming names because who gives a shit—what’s done is done) decided that Sacramento Pride needed to be put on the map. Providing a fun day for the community wasn’t enough, we needed national recognition! After all we are the capital of California—San Francisco Pride needs to step aside (snap, snap)!

So when press releases went out, some of them went out on the downlow…to known anti-gay groups, businesses and churches. The only ones that seemed to have taken the bait were the Ukrainian Churches—hook, line and sinker.

The fair and its protestors made the local and national news, newspapers throughout the state and gave the politicians something to yap about at diversity luncheons for months to come.

GLBT Activists who had nothing to be active about for sometime came alive—and milked the situation for all it was worth. Someone locally hated us again! Woo hoo!

Groups were formed, meetings were held. Acronyms for group names were made and counter protests were launched. But when the anti-gay protesters failed to show up at last year’s Rainbow Festival, the interest waned and the activists went back into hibernation to await the next injustice.

This year’s Pride Fair again had it’s protesters and again made the local news and newspapers. But the activists weren’t as excited about the protesters this time around.
Several weeks later on July 1 Fijian-born Satender Singh, 26 years old, was having a day out at a lake with a group of his friends. Little did he know that day would end with him being attacked, hitting his head and within four days he would become Sacramento’s very own Matthew Shepard.

Practically before the ambulance doors were shut the activists caught wind of the incident. Emails were written, phone calls were made and myspace bulletins carried the news to the masses.

A gay man had been gay bashed and killed and the Ukrainians did it! But was he gay just because they called him gay names when they attacked him? Of course! Was he really killed? Yes! No! Kinda! It’s too hard to explain, but he’ll be dead soon! Are you sure it was Ukrainians? Yes! They had a translator! It’s all their fault!

Hate Crime! Get your hate crime here!

The more we questioned the more elusive and cluttered the answers became in those first few days. The more we questioned what the facts actually were the louder the activists yelled “hate crime!” If anyone dare not jump onto the bandwagon immediately the activists labeled them the reason we were hated! People who questioned were the problem. Very interesting.

Finally an official story was chosen and released. The activists planned vigils and organized potlucks, held meetings and organized committees. Politicians gave speeches and shook hands. Meanwhile a family grieved, not caring about speeches or radio talk shows. They just mourned.

But there’s no time for that! We have someone who hates us—isn’t that wonderful! It’s the Ukrainians—wait, let’s call them “Ukes” for short—and they’re easy to identify! We’ll have every gay person in a 100 mile radius scared for their lives every time they hear an Eastern European accent! We have a villain with a face once again!

Wait…there’s still a young man at the heart of all this who died. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? If it truly was a hate crime— If!? Of course it was a hate crime! Stop asking questions! People that ask questions are— Are what? Cowards? Communists? Self-haters? Hardly.

Seems that sometimes the people who preach unconditional love are to busy seeking the hatred to enjoy the rare moments when we do have peace. Also too quick to judge those whose activist comes at the end of a pen writing a check, rather than holding a picket sign. But those picket signs need to get paid for somehow…don’t they?

Two years ago we had no idea we would be losing what security we felt we had just because one man wanted to “put Sacramento on the map”. Who knows, if the protests and counter protests between the gays and the Ukes had never been started, maybe Satender Singh would still be alive? It’s a long shot…but cause and effect…who knows?

It certainly reminds us never to underestimate the power of what one person can do to effect us all.

But the saddest outcome in all of this is that our community’s emerging youth in Sacramento won’t be able to feel what little security we felt when they attend pride events.
They won’t know pride with protest. And they will always remember the name of Satendar Singh.

Whatever any of us feel on the subject of Satender’s unfortunate thrust into martyrdom, a young man was killed and deserves justice. To contribute to the Justice For Satendar reward fund email justice4satendar@gmail.com, or to explore your community activism, visit qcrew.org.