Stand Up Sacramento!
Home| Background| Demonstration Reports | Participate | Contact | Links

My personal experience and motivation to create StandUpSac.com

My name is Nathan but my friends call me Nate. In my own words, I will try to describe why I decided to create an method to organize Pro-Gay Rights Protests. I grew up in a rural area in the foothills above Sacramento California. After High School I spent some time in Davis, then Orange County finishing school. I had experienced homophobia and hate a few times in my life, but for the most part it was only from a few individuals. In February of 2006, I moved back to Sacramento, expecting to simply live closer to my family, work and do the things people expect to do.

Within the first week living downtown, I was completely shocked when I saw a box truck parading down the streets with signs of hate and homophobic propaganda. It had a picture of 2 men kissing with a slash through it, talk about how AIDS was a punishment for God, and fanatical misinterpretations from the Bible. After talking with a few people I found out it was called “The 10 commandments truck” or “The Hate Mobile” by the locals and everyone seemed to dislike it but everyone tolerated it. Apparently the truck has been in action for a few years, hitting streets of the Gay communities “lavender heights” and parking in front of the capital, even at times when school children are taking tours of the capital. The truck was also a regular site at the areas GLBT events and with a sign change was also going to the Planned Parenthood Clinics.

I started thinking about making a GLBT Rights truck to park next to it, in front of the capital, or at least figure out something to do as a counter balance. I could not get much support from others in the Gay Rights Movement and I could not figure out exactly what seemed appropriate to say on my truck. Although Gay Rights has been moving along for years, it seems many of the old time activists have started families, moved on with their lives, and simply got tired of fighting for the cause when they have already made some great accomplishments. For many, the attitude seems to be, the next steps are for the upcoming generation.

On June 10th, I had to be at work at 1pm, so I went for a short bike ride down to see the Gay Pride Parade a few blocks from my house. I missed the parade itself, so I followed the trail of confetti and blocked off streets to catch up to the events. I came upon a large group walking on the street. Getting off my bike to walk through the crowd, nobody paid much attention to me. I assumed the crowd was part of PFLAG or simply local straight people that had been watching the parade, as most of them had children in strollers and seemed to be regular family units.

The calm changed within a moment, I was slapped on the shoulder by a young man that recognized me. He and several other people in the crowd were friends with one of my co-workers. He said “I’m so glad to see you came out to join us!” with his Russian accent, as he pushed a sign towards me. I immediately looked around and noticed everyone had signs of hate, AIDS, and other nasty things. I felt like a cat that was tossed into a pile of hungry dogs, apparently they didn't’t realize I was gay until that moment.

The Pride festival was in a fenced off park in downtown Sacramento. Protesters, mostly with Russian accents were shouting at everyone they perceived to be gay, and flashing the signs of intolerance. Some of the GLBT community came back to tell the protesters where to go stick their signs. I also started up and down the side trying to figure out what was motivating them to do what they were doing. One woman with her children said to “Repent NOW” and that she was there because we “need to learn about God and Morals.” I pointed to her 11 or 12 year old daughter with cutoff shorts clinging up to her crotch, and a super exposed midsection, “If you want to teach morals, teach your daughter not to dress like a prostitute, start teaching morals at home.” Her reply to me was “My daughter is a female and its ok for her to dress however she wants as a woman, but that men should not dress like women!” I think she missed my point.

The news media had almost NO coverage of the hostility from this group towards the GLBT community and some of the tactics they were engaging in. One of the most interesting things about the protesters was the level or organization they seemed to have. Apparently they planned to try and capture some of the worst of the worst on video. A man with a camera would stealthily work his way upon people at the pride that were engaged in heated exchanges with the protesters. The protesters would try and bait the GLBT person, sometimes physically pushing up against us in a threatening manner, or spit on us, then immediately step back and switch to preaching something from the bible. The camera would then swing up at that exact moment, trying to catch a short clip of the protesters looking innocent, and an outraged GLBT person taking a swing or shouting profanities at them. Luckily I believe that nobody from our community hit anyone from the protest but it could have been extremely different.

After the unnerving morning, I went to work, and had an interesting conversation with my co-worker. I said to her “I saw some of your friends’ downtown.” She replied “Oh, that’s interesting.” I then asked “Why were they down protesting at Pride?” “We have the right of free speech and we believe that what you are doing is a sin. You are going to burn in Hell for your choice, and I don’t feel I should have to work with or tolerate someone like you.” was her reply. She went on to tell me that she did not go herself, but that they are having another protest at the capital on the next Monday.

After a few days of thinking, I decided I had to get involved in doing something. I called around and ended up in contact by e-mail with Jerry Sloan, an old time activist. With Jerry’s input and help from a few other people I decided to move ahead with a demonstration. Luckily I worked with one of the church members so I was able to identify one of the primarily involved churches beyond any doubt.

Home| Background| Demonstration Reports | Participate | Contact | Links