New abbot for Zen center
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Milk-Moscone vigil Nov. 27
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Witty 'Barber'
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Vol. 43 • No. 47 • November 21-27, 2013
Burned student receives wide support by Seth Hemmelgarn
T Courtesy Sil Warren
Melquiesha “Mel” Warren
Woman killed near gay club by Seth Hemmelgarn
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an Francisco police are investigating the death of a woman who was shot in the head after leaving a gay South of Market nightclub early Sunday morning. Melquiesha “Mel” Warren, who would have turned 24 this Saturday, had been celebrating her partner’s birthday at Club OMG, 43 6th Street, before the incident, people who knew her said. A friend of Warren’s who was also shot remains hospitalized. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, which cited Warren’s wife TiffanyRenee Warren and police, Warren, a friend, and two others were sitting in the friend’s car when another car backed into theirs. Warren’s wife told the Chronicle that the front fender of Warren’s friend’s car came off, and Melquiesha Warren got out “to inspect the damage.” “Words were exchanged, and someone pushed her,” the paper said. Soon, the shooting started. Asked about what had preceded the shooting, Officer Gordon Shyy, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, told the Bay Area Reporter, “There was some sort of altercation between the suspect and the victim,” and the altercation “appeared initially as verbal.” He said details about what led to the shooting that have been published in media accounts didn’t come from the police report. The B.A.R. wasn’t able to reach TiffanyRenee Warren for comment. According to Shyy, police responded at 2:09 a.m. November 17 to a parking lot at Sixth and Jessie streets, which is near the club. Warren had been shot in the head, and her friend had been shot in the torso. Both were taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where Warren was pronounced dead. Shyy said Wednesday, November 20 that the other woman remained in life-threatening condition. A single shooter was involved, said Shyy, and police have identified a suspect, but he couldn’t share a description because “it would comproSee page 10 >>
Jane Philomen Cleland
Participants who attended a November 14 march in support of burned student Luke Sasha Fleischman placed rainbow-colored ribbons along the bus route that Fleischman was riding when their skirt was set on fire.
he gender-nonconforming high school student who was burned on a bus in Oakland is continuing to recover from their injuries as the attorney for the boy charged in the attack claims it was a “prank.” Luke Sasha Fleischman, 18, of Oakland, had fallen asleep on an AC Transit bus November 4 when Richard Allen Thomas, 16, also of Oakland, allegedly set Fleischman’s skirt on fire. Sasha Fleischman prefers “they,” “them,” and “their,” when people refer to them in the third person, according to Karl Fleischman, Fleischman’s father. In a phone interview Tuesday, November 19, Karl Fleischman said Sasha Fleischman was still in the hospital but “recovering gradually, and I think it’s according to the timetable that the doctors are expecting. I don’t want to go into a lot of details, but things are looking good, I would say.” Attorney William Du Bois appeared with Thomas Friday, November 15 in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland before Superior Court Judge Eric L. Labowitz. Du Bois wants Thomas processed as a juvenile and filed a motion Friday challenging prosecutors’ decision to charge him as an adult. Thomas had been expected to enter a plea Friday to charges of aggravated mayhem and
assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Both counts carry a hate crime enhancement. If convicted, he could face life in prison. Outside court, Du Bois said, “As far as I can tell,” the incident “was the result of a juvenile prank that went horribly wrong.” He questioned an Oakland police officer previously indicating that Thomas had admitted he was homophobic. “Members of his family are gay,” said Du Bois. “He doesn’t have a homophobic bone in his body.” Du Bois said one of Thomas’s family members who has come to Thomas’s court hearings is gay. That person, along with Thomas’s mother and other family members, have declined to speak with reporters, although one said Friday, “Please pray.” Du Bois said Thomas has written “sincere, heartfelt apologies” and expressed sympathy and empathy with Fleischman. Thomas “feels absolutely horrible about this,” said Du Bois, who added that Thomas’s family is “upset that he’d even consider this type of a prank.” He said he hasn’t seen the video of the incident, but Thomas used a lighter, thinking “it was just going to be a flame and he’d pat it out.” Du Bois said he didn’t know whether Thomas had tried to put out the fire. Asked about Du Bois’s comment that the See page 9 >>
Ideas vary for LGBT history document by Matthew S. Bajko
serve the city’s LGBT past. “I’ve always been concerned about hat constitutes LGBT that. A lot has been lost; a lot of historic history in San Francisco? places have disappeared,” said Lipsky, a The question was former GLBT Historical Society board poised to roughly 50 people who member who is now helping with the attended a recent workshop launchRainbow Honor Walk LGBT history ing a new project aimed at develproject set for the Castro. “Younger oping a comprehensive survey of people are unaware of the travails the LGBT historical sites in the city. people before them went through.” The answers, unsurprisingly, As the Bay Area Reporter noted in varied based on the participants’ a story last month, the San Francisco personal connections and rememHistoric Preservation Fund Commitbrances. Suggestions ran the gamut tee awarded local historians, Shayne from the streets of the Tenderloin Watson and Donna Graves, a $76,000 and the location of an early LGBT grant to create what is known as a hiscommunity center to places of wortoric context statement for the city’s ship welcoming to LGBT people of LGBT community. The document is Courtesy Impact Stories faith and athletic fields where LGBT considered the first step toward preArtist Jim Campbell’s painting of the 330 Grove Street LGBT sports teams played. serving places and structures of import community center, circa 1978. Campbell had several art shows Crystal Jang, 67, a fourth genera- at the building in what was known as the “Top Floor Gallery.” to LGBT history and is often referred tion San Francisco resident, attendto by government agencies when deed the November 14 public meeting termining requests for historic preserto ensure that the places of imporLGBTQ middle school coordinator who vation designations. tance to LGBT people of color are included in worked with gay-straight alliances, Jang is now “Overall, very little has been done to preserve the survey. retired. Taking part in the workshop “also jogs and communicate this community’s history,” “Sometimes, our perspective as the API my memory,” she joked. said Watson, 36, an out lesbian who lives in San LGBT community is often not heard,” said “I want to make sure this part of my history Francisco. “Things are moving very slowly but Jang, using the acronym for Asian Pacific Isis heard,” said Jang. they are moving.” lander. “I came to give feedback to make sure Bill Lipsky, 67, a gay man who moved to San The GLBT Historical Society is serving as it is all included.” Francisco in 1981 and wrote the 2006 book the project’s fiscal sponsor, while a commuA former public schoolteacher and the Gay and Lesbian San Francisco, attended the nity advisory panel is providing guidance. The San Francisco Unified School District’s first workshop as he has worked for years to preSee page 9 >>
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