GenQ - For the not so straight individual

SACRAMENTO, CA - On July 1st, 2007, 26-year-old Fijian-Indian immigrant Satendar Singh was with friends at Lake Natoma in California’s capital city of Sacramento when a group described as “Russian-speaking� approached them, shouting explicitly anti-gay and racist slurs at their group. According to authorities, when Singh’s group attempted to leave around 8:00 p.m. they were confronted by the Slavic group.

Singh was punched in the face by one of the assaulters once, falling backward and cracking his skull. He ruptured a part of the brain stem that is responsible for controlling most life functions, falling into a coma.

He died four days later in the hospital after being removed from life support.

Many take this as an indication of tensions that have been mounting between a number of groups in the Sacramento area for some time. The local Slavic evangelical community has been decrying homosexuals as evil and has been denouncing gay rights repeatedly for years, and their numbers have now grown into the thousands.

Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told The Sacramento Bee that “this homicide sort of brings to light what has been feared. It's tragic evidence of a larger point."

This homicide has affected the Sacramento gay community deeply, mounting the concerns over increasingly aggressive protests staged by the local Slaving Evangelical Christian community at local schools, the state capitol, and at the yearly Sacramento Pride celebration.

After riding as a dignitary in last year’s Pride parade, Sen. Steingberg was disturbed by what he saw from the evangelical Slavic protestors: "Some of the epithets, some of the signs are not only disrespectful of the gay and lesbian community, but they are disrespectful of the entire community," he said to the Bee. "The words are vile ... and words may give people the implicit license to take the next step and hurt people."

Local Slavic leaders have said that they do not condone what happened and do not support violence in any way, but do not intend to be any less vocal against homosexuals and gay rights. Viktor Chernyetsky, administrator of Bethany Slavic Missionary Church states that you should express your views legally through demonstration and protest, but violence is going too far.

"We see danger that comes from the gay community, in Sacramento especially," said Chernyetsky to The Sacramento Bee. "This issue is so important for our families and for our kids, and by the way, for the future for our country.�