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Anti-gay American crusaders, including Redmond's Ken Hutcherson and Oregon's Scott Lively have celebrated the anti-gay energy brought to their movements by evangelical churches for Russian-speaking emigres from former Soviet republics.

A recent assault in Sacramento shows the danger of that "energy" when misdirected.

The death in Sacramento early this month of Satender Singh, a 26-year old immigrant from Fiji, has riled tensions there between the city's large Slavic immigrant population and the LGBT folk against whom some of the Slavs have demonstrated.

The Sacramento Bee has detailed the still-unsolved July 1 hate crime and reactions to it.

Singh was picnicking near Lake Natoma with a small group of Fijian and Indian friends when the attack occurred, according to two people with him that day. The Bee is not identifying the friends because they fear retribution.

Singh was at the park that Sunday to celebrate a promotion he had earned at his call center job, according to the friends, and the group was drinking and dancing to Indian music. Singh was the only one without a date, and was hugging and dancing with other men.

In the hours preceding the attack, a group described as Russian-speaking hurled explicit gay slurs and racial remarks at Singh and his party, according to witnesses and sheriff's officials. When Singh and his friends tried to leave around 8 p.m., they were confronted by the Slavic group and a fight ensued, the witnesses said.

Singh was punched -- once -- in the face. He fell backward and cracked his head, rupturing a part of the brain stem that controls most of life's functions. He died four days later.

A 911 call to the sheriff's office from Wolfgang Chargin warned them that tension was brewing at the park between the two groups.

The Russian-speaking group seemed especially offended by Singh, 26, who was dancing with both men and women, Chargin said.

At one point, Singh's party went into the water and one of the men in the other group walked over and spit on their blankets, Chargin said. The man then went to the lake's edge and shouted something at them that they seemed to find especially shocking, Chargin said.

After watching several verbal exchanges between the two groups, Chargin called 911. He stressed that Singh's group was never aggressive but they were confronted several times.

The county sheriff said his officers responded to the call, but could not locate the groups.


The crime and the reaction to it highlight a social tension that has been developing in Sacramento and other communities for years where evangelical Christian Slavic immigrants have staged aggressive anti-gay protests.

In death, [Singh] has emerged as a symbol of wounds that have festered for some time between Sacramento's gay community and members of the Slavic evangelical community, a thousands-strong group that has become a vocal force denouncing gay rights. It is that rhetoric, some contend, that fueled the attack on Singh earlier this month at Lake Natoma.

"This homicide sort of brings to light what has been feared," said Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who attended a vigil for Singh last week. "It's tragic evidence of a larger point." [SacBee]

Although Sacramento police have characterized the case as a "high priority," they haven't yet identified Singh's attackers. One commenter to a SacBee story on the crime speculates, "They will not find the Russians who did this, they are a tight lipped community and we have no Russian speaking Officers. Sad, but true."

Another attempts to correct him, but comes to a similar conclusion: "1.we DO have Russian peace officers, my brother is one of them! and I also have 2 friends on the police force who are Russian! 2.We are NOT a tight lipped community-most of us have been here less than 10 years, and are not familiar enough with the laws to step in, when officers truly need our input they come in with an explanation and we are glad to help. Back in Russia, if you helped solve a crime, the criminals will turn around and commit another crime-this time against you-the witness, so excuse us for being hesitant, we are still getting used to the protection we have here. "

According to the Bee, about a third of Sacramento's 100,000 Russian-speaking residents are members of evangelical churches who claim to follow a "literal interpretation" of the Bible and who emphasize the anti-gay messages they find there. In Sacramento, they've staged protests at area schools, at the state Capitol, and at just about any public event staged for LGBT people.

Those leading the anti-gay protests -- many of whom fled religious persecution in the former Soviet Union -- maintain they're exercising their newfound freedom of speech to spread the message that homosexuality is a sin.

"What's going on is very complicated," Feldman said this week. "It's almost a social war starting in Sacramento."

Steinberg, who last year rode as a dignitary in the city's annual gay pride parade, said he has been struck by the magnitude of vitriol emanating from the evangelical protests.

"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. "The words are vile ... and words may give people the implicit license to take the next step and hurt people. ...

Florin Ciuriuc, a former executive director of the Slavic Community Center of Sacramento, said he was disturbed but not surprised to hear of the attack at Lake Natoma.

Ciuriuc said he was among those leading anti-gay protests a few years back but that he stopped participating as the movement became more menacing.

"I saw that people were hungry for violence, for blood; different ideas where we have to be aggressive, where we have to scream," he said. "I don't want people from my community killing each other or other people because they are getting aggressive."

Viktor Chernyetsky, administrator of Bethany Slavic Missionary Church, strongly disagreed with Ciuriuc's assessment. Chernyetsky said Slavic leaders teach homosexuality is a sin, but do not support physical violence. [SacBee]"

There's no indication in the Bee stories that Singh actually was gay. It's clear, however, that his attackers -- who probably weren't all that familiar with the traditions of Bollywood -- perceived him to be so. And that appears -- judging by their reported actions -- to be why they attacked him and his friends.

"Why has Mr. Singh's death galvanized this community?" asked Georgette Imura of the Council of Asian Pacific Islanders Together for Advocacy. "He was targeted because of his ethnicity and his perceived sexual orientation ... and possibly, his racial background. It's touched us on so many different levels."

In Sacramento, LGBT groups have joined with support groups for Asian/Pacific Islanders to stage several well-attended vigils for Singh. In memorial shortly after Singh's death, hundreds gathered to honor a young man that most had never met. The Sacramento gay magazine, Outword, offers this highlight: [magazine in PDF format]

The laugh was infectious, and brought smiles to all those who heard it as it was played from a cell phone and amplified so that all at the memorial service and rally could hear it. It was not meant for that, however, it was simply a phone call to a good friend, a shared laugh and now a treasured memory.

The phone call and the laugh were from Satendar Singh and it was played at a memorial service in his honor before a crowd of over 300 people, most of whom had never met him, nor knew him, but gathered to remember his life that was taken in a senseless and tragic murder and possible hate crime.

The service was held at 8 p.m. in the Peace Garden at the State Capitol on Friday, July 6 and was organized by the Capital Unity Council and members of Sacramento's gay and religious communities.

Singh, a recent immigrant from Fiji, was called "The Lucky One" by his family because he had won a lottery for a visa and the chance to come to the U.S. His luck ran out on Sunday, July 1...

Singh was remembered again yesterday when those attending a long-planned a "West Coast Diversity Summit" in Sacramento turned it into another vigil to the young man's memory. For the first time in weeks, a minister from one of the evangelical Slavic churches spoke out about the attack.

There was no mistaking the fundamental differences between Bishop Nikolay Gelis and most of his audience Saturday at the first West Coast Diversity Summit.

His Russian words reverberating throughout Trinity Cathedral Hall in midtown Sacramento, Gelis preached with the help of a translator that he believes "normal families" are men and women who produce children, building strong communities for the betterment of a nation.

In the audience sat about 50 gay and lesbian activists and allies, undoubtedly with different definitions of family and societal betterment.

But in the end came common ground.

"We do not support any form of hate or persecution," boomed Gelis, a leader at a local Pentecostal Slavic church.

Advocating that everyone "love each other and have peace," Gelis received thunderous applause and the only standing ovation of the afternoon summit.

Good words, of course, and -- no doubt -- welcome in Sacramento where folks have to deal with daily tension built from simmering threats of violence. But Gelis's American anti-gay allies in churches -- including Hutcherson -- have been speaking out against a hate-crimes bill in Congress that would make the very kinds of distinction between speech and violent action that Gelis was making. As long as the preachers insist on a supposed "right" to incite violence, it's difficult to put much faith in those kinds of words.

Labels: crime, gay news, hate crime, ken hutcherson, religion