Violent attacks leave Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ community demanding protection

Repeated attacks on the LGBTQ+ community in California’s capital city have led community leaders to demand that Sacramento authorities step up public safety measures.

A coalition of 14 community groups urged police to aggressively investigate two recent incidents involving attacks in the Lavender Heights gayborhood, PBS affiliate KVIE reports.

Police are already investigating the assault of local activist Joseph Sais as a hate crime. Suspects fled before officers arrived, and no arrests have been made. Police said they are investigating the incident as a felony assault with a possible bias motive after Sais said the assailants hurled racist and anti-LGBTQ slurs as they beat him.

Additionally, two women reported being attacked this week after attending the Sacramento Rainbow Festival. That incident took place about a block from where Sais was reportedly attacked. The women suffered minor injuries, according to police.

Related: Sacramento man still in coma six weeks after suspected anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime

The recent attacks happened as the community still reels from the fatal attack on local LGBTQ leader Alvin Prasad, who was beaten and put in a coma after being confronted outside a gay club on Halloween last year. He died December 28 from injuries sustained in the attack, according to KXTV.

“We mourned Alvin. We raised the alarm. We told city leaders that people were being harassed and attacked in Lavender Heights,” Neil Pople, president of the Sacramento Stonewall Democrats, told the PBS affiliate. “Now our friend and PAC Chair has been left bloodied in those same streets.”

Related: Four suspects beat California man while shouting anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, police say

Pople said he has called the Sacramento Police Department and Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum, urging them to take immediate action to make Lavender Heights' streets safe again. Meanwhile, an online Change.org petition is circulating, demanding a response to the “alarming increase in violence” in the Sacramento neighborhood.

“Along the 20th Street corridor, spanning five blocks, there have been three reported attacks against gay males, resulting in 1 tragic death, 1 arrest, and countless silent victims who are afraid to come forward,” the petition reads. “This surge in hate-fueled violence is alarming and needs immediate attention from our city leaders.”

The petition specifically calls for a dedicated police patrol in the area from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

While police declined to detail their specific policing strategies to KVIE, city officials said they were tracking crime statistics citywide and “adjusting resources accordingly.”