Patriot Pride Sacramento
07.30.2022 |"Patriot Pride Month" is the right-wing of Sacramento, California's protest in response to Queer Pride Month (June). Today's event to commemorate the month was attended by 50-100 people and included speakers such as Mylinda Mason, a representative for the hate group the California Straight Pride Coalition. Far-right extremist logos and paraphernalia were littered throughout the crowd, including items in support of the fascist group the Proud Boys, the far-right militia movement the Three Percenters, the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, Christian dominionist symbols, and covid denialist claims.
Proud Boy and Three Percenter security details patrolled Capitol park while CHP did the same. Trucks laden with flags circled, honking and hollering. Past experience informed my decision to stay relatively far from the epicenter of the event, leading me to hear only short portions of the speeches that had brought these people out. What I heard was fiery and inflammatory, including shouts of "We need to take our country back!" and similar cries.
In the third image above, the man on the left’s shirt reads “Up on the rooftop, click click click, off goes the safety for Old St. Nick” .
Once I decided to leave, I believed that I had flown under the radar and would be able to do so safely, but as I left a parked truck pulled out slowly at my side. The man inside was saying something into a phone as he kept up with my quickened pace. The stickers on his vehicle indicated to me that he was affiliated with the day's event. He rolled down his window and demanded to know why I was taking pictures and who I "worked for". For once I was thankful for Sacramento's network of one-way streets as at that moment all I needed to do to stop my pursuer was turn the corner, which I did.
