A California man has pleaded not guilty to a brutal attack that left a 57-year-old gay man in a coma after objecting to the victim’s Halloween costume.
Sean Wesley Payton Jr., 24, of Sacramento, is accused of assaulting Alvin Prasad around 1:30 a.m. on November 1.
Prasad had been out at Badlands, an LGBTQ nightclub, with his adult daughter, Andrea, on Halloween night. He was dressed in an 18th-century coat and hat, along with knee-high platform boots, a pink wig, and large white wings strapped to his back.
As the two walked back to their car in Sacramento’s Lavender Heights LGBTQ district, a stranger insulted Prasad’s flamboyant outfit.
“He calls my dad weird,” Andrea Prasad said shortly after the attack, recounting the incident to KXTV. “He says it in a very rude, aggressive way… like he wants to hurt my dad.”
Prasad turned to confront the man, later identified by police as Payton, who punched him in the forehead and sent him backward onto the pavement.
Family friend Jonathan Wisniski, who witnessed the attack, said Prasad was bleeding from the back of his head.
“He’s lying flat on his back, and he’s — for lack of a better expression — breathing like a fish out of water,” Wisniski said. “He seemed like he was seizing up.”
Andrea Prasad called 911 and attempted to revive her father, but he was unresponsive. He has been in a coma since the attack, and doctors have told her he suffered permanent brain damage.
“He’ll never be the same,” she said. “He can’t express himself…can’t go out dancing. It’s just…it’s not the same.”
Police arrested Payton on November 17, charging him with assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, personally inflicting great bodily injury, resisting arrest, and a hate crime that could result in additional penalties if convicted.
Payton was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail and is being held without bail. He is scheduled to appear in Sacramento Superior Court on January 30.
Sacramento LGBT Community Center CEO David Heitstuman said the attack against Prasad comes amid a recent series of assaults and vandalism incidents targeting LGBTQ people and organizations in the Lavender Heights neighborhood.
Earlier this year, the nightclub where Prasad had gone on the night of the attack drew political controversy after banning patrons from wearing MAGA-related attire, arguing that such gear made some customers feel uncomfortable and unsafe. The decision was criticized by gay conservatives, including the Log Cabin Republicans of Sacramento, who accused the club of singling out MAGA-related attire rather than banning all political clothing.
Authorities do not believe the nightclub’s ban, or the attention it received afterward, played any role in the attack against Prasad.
Sian Radaskiewicz-King, of Baltimore, has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for spray-painting a transgender symbol near Saints Peter & Paul Elementary School in Easton -- conduct that prompted a hate-crime charge and kept her jailed without bond for more than two months.
Under a plea deal with the Talbot County State's Attorney's Office, the 32-year-old admitted to one count of defacing religious property and one count of malicious destruction of property, with prosecutors dropping 24 additional charges.
Prosecutors say Radaskiewicz-King spray-painted a transgender symbol -- a circle with male and female glyphs and a third combined spoke -- around Saints Peter & Paul Elementary School in Easton on the night of September 4. They allege she tagged the same symbol at several other spots in town, including a liquor store fence, the sidewalk outside an Ulta Beauty, and a brick archway at a nearby shopping center.
A California school district will pay $700,000 to a lesbian administrator -- plus an additional $500,000 in attorneys' fees -- to settle her claims that she was demoted and pushed out because of her sexual orientation.
Rose Tagnesi, the district's former special education director, sued Grossmont Union High School District last month, alleging she was harassed and retaliated against for opposing what she called the board's "anti-LGBTQ agenda" -- including efforts in 2023 to ban LGBTQ books and cancel contracts with an LGBTQ-affirming mental health provider.
Grindr has released its annual Grindr Unwrapped report, offering a snapshot of user trends and profile behaviors across the platform.
The report is split into two sections. The first draws on data from the gay dating app's more than 15 million monthly users, highlighting identity markers, sexual habits, fetishes, dating patterns, and connection styles.
The United States has been dubbed "Daddy Capital of the World" for the sheer number of users who tag themselves as "daddy" or list the subgroup under "My Tribes." Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada follow close behind.
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