SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Alameda County prosecutors have not yet decided whether to file hate crime charges against a group of Proud Boys who hurled homophobic and transphobic slurs during a Drag Queen Story Hour in San Lorenzo last month, although law enforcement officials say it’s "very likely" other misdemeanor charges are filed.
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The Alameda County District Attorney's Office and Alameda County Sheriff's Office told KCBS Radio on Wednesday night that a charging decision hadn't been made.
Panda Dulce, the performer who said the Proud Boys' harassment forced her to hide in a back room before they left and she completed the reading, said in an Instagram story on Wednesday that the district attorney and sheriff's office "determined that there was insufficient evidence to pursue hate crime charges," while spokespeople from both offices told KCBS Radio that officials haven't decided what charges to file.
"Our office has not yet made a charging decision. It's still under review," Angela Ruggiero, public information officer in the DA's office, told KCBS Radio in an email on Wednesday night. "We cannot comment on any pending cases under review."
Alameda County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Kelly told KCBS Radio that the sheriff's office must "have one more meeting" with Dulce as the investigation continues. He said the case was “not the clearest cut” to pursue hate crime charges because the Proud Boys in attendance – whom Dulce said yelled "t----y," "it" and "pedophile" during the reading – "skirted the line" between hate speech and a hate crime.
"Based on everything we have, it's very likely that we may end up with some kind of misdemeanor charge and not a hate crime charge," Kelly said in a phone call on Wednesday night, adding that the sheriff's office has asked to file additional reports for potential misdemeanor charges.
Panda Dulce, also known as Kyle Chu, declined to comment to KCBS Radio. Dulce wrote in a Vogue piece earlier this month that she spoke with a sheriff's officer two days after the library reading, who "cited several possible violations, but neglected to mention a hate crime."
She said that sheriff’s officials didn’t collect "any" of the Proud Boys' information on the day of the reading, adding that "the extremists might not have been identifiable at all" if not for an attendee’s video, which recorded – among others – a man wearing a shirt emblazoned with the message "KILL YOUR LOCAL PEDOPHILE" above an assault rifle.
"I understood then what I know many queer and trans people of color have come to understand themselves over the course of history: that we cannot rely solely on institutions and authorities to exact justice," Dulce wrote. "That we are the ones we've been waiting for."
Kelly said the Proud Boys were from the Bay Area, but not Alameda County. The library reading was one of dozens that LibsOfTikTok – a prominent right-wing Twitter account that has been suspended for "promoting violence, threats or harassment against" LGBTQ people – highlighted around the country, many of which were targeted by white supremacists and far-right groups.
The San Lorenzo Library on Wednesday hosted its first monthly LGBTQ Pride events, which include more Drag Queen Story Hours, as part of a series Alameda County Supervisor Dave Brown is sponsoring. Kelly, the sheriff's office spokesperson, told KCBS Radio that Brown and Rep. Eric Swalwell offered "strong" support for the LGBTQ community in the aftermath of last month’s library reading.
Swalwell met with law enforcement, library staff and local LGBTQ residents in the days after the reading, which Kelly said helped create "a network of direct communication between law enforcement, elected officials and the trans community." A spokesperson with Swalwell’s office told Bay Area News Group last month that Dulce didn't attend the meeting.
"My community has been lifesaving; the synergistic force keeping me buoyant since that traumatic day," she wrote of support from "concerned parents, activists, drag queens, politicians, public figures, LGBTQ+ communities and allies" in her Vogue piece this month.
"Through their work, I now understand myself to be one point among a network of queer and trans people protecting fellow queer and trans people, when our systems predictably fail to take swift and sufficient action," she added.
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