Hate Crime Investigation Underway
A hate crime investigation is now underway in California after the Sacramento LGBT Community Center received two letters containing death threats this week.
The Sacramento LGBT Community Center, which began in 1978 as a special assistance program, “works to create a region where LGBTQ people thrive.” They further assert that they “support the health and wellness of the most marginalized, advocate for equality and justice, and work to build a culturally rich LGBTQ community.”
As the Sacramento Bee reported, “both letters had a ‘faith-based bent’ to them, said David Heitstuman, center executive director, and were more specific in nature than past hate mail the center had received.”
“They talked about various ways they felt homosexuals have plagued society, then went on to talk about the various ways they would harm our community, including destroying and murdering every queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual (person) in Sacramento,” Heitstuman told the newspaper.
KCRA 3 also covered the story. “My initial response was just serious concern over the safety and wellbeing of everyone here at the center and everyone in our community,” Heitstuman told the NBC affiliate.
The outlet further detailed some of the language contained in the letters, though it doesn’t quite make sense. “Your homosexuals ways plague society with twisted ideas turning god plan of marriage of two normal people (men & women) into a freakshow,” the letters reportedly contained.
You can watch their full report below:
“It’s an unfortunate reality that this sort of hate exists in our community,” Heitstuman told the Sacramento Bee, “and it’s a travesty that so much of it continues to be directed at the LGBT community and other marginalized populations.”
As of Friday, they reported, no arrests had been made.