High schoolers react to fire attack on bus

[flowers]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/High-schoolers-react-to-fire-attack-on-bus-4988389.php

They are two teenagers from two different worlds in Oakland - one a straight-A student from the hills who identifies as neither he nor she, the other a struggling student who lives in the bullet-riddled flatlands and considers himself a jokester.

On Nov. 4, the jokester, 16-year-old Richard Thomas, lit the skirt of the agender person, 18-year-old Sasha Fleischman, on fire as they rode an AC Transit bus. Fleischman has been in a hospital ever since, undergoing skin grafts for second- and third-degree burns to the legs, and Thomas is in custody, having been charged as an adult with what prosecutors call a hate-motivated assault.

But this has turned out to be much more than a crime story.

In the days since the attack, those who know Fleischman and Thomas have agonized over how to express their sorrow, anger and compassion. Even as the discussions turn to the differences between privilege and underclass, they circle back to one main point: Despite this violent act, acceptance among the young of kids of varying gender orientations is spreading across demographic lines.
Similar reactions

Agender, or nonbinary, identification may be a lesser-known concept at the sprawling Oakland High School, which Thomas attends, than at Fleischman's private Maybeck High School in Berkeley, but after the attack students at both campuses reacted with similar horror and sympathy.

Youths at Thomas' East Oakland campus have raised hundreds of dollars for Fleischman, made posters, held support rallies and helped friends of the family tie rainbow-colored ribbons to poles along the bus route on which the teenager was attacked. And when a community march was held Thursday night in support of the burned youth, students from both campuses carried banners together.

"One thing I would hope can come of this, a silver lining of some sort out of everything everyone is talking about and doing, is a greater awareness of genderqueer issues," said the burned youth's father, kindergarten teacher Karl Fleischman. "Sasha has a very strong sense of justice, and I know they would like that."
They, not he

The younger Fleischman prefers to be referred to as "they," rather than he or she. The teenager was born male and named Luke, but at 16 announced he was agender and took the name Sasha.

So now there is a human who is neither he or she but a agender? comment section worth a read.

[happyg]

Lots of different reactions about the incident.  Some even want to "free Richard" wrongly thinking he is in jail because he is black. It was a horrific crime, no matter the gender (or no gender) of the person. S/he is still human.

I don't get the agender side of it, though. How does a person not know what he or she is? Or, why do they want to be both? As a child, I loved all boys' sports, and have a lot of scars to prove it. I was a tomboy through and through, but never identified myself as a male. Is it confusion about oneself, or a real phenomena?

[Oceander]

The article itself is a disgusting attempt to hijack a terrible tragedy for the sake of some cheap political agenda.  This attack was a horrific attack, and the victim's claimed gender status doesn't make it - or, rather, shouldn't make it - any the less horrific.  Put quite simply, the story here is that one person - the "jokester" - set another person on fire with absolutely no justification whatsoever.  That is all that matters; the rest is nothing more than ulterior politics.

[EC]

Lots of different reactions about the incident.  Some even want to "free Richard" wrongly thinking he is in jail because he is black. It was a horrific crime, no matter the gender (or no gender) of the person. S/he is still human.

I don't get the agender side of it, though. How does a person not know what he or she is? Or, why do they want to be both? As a child, I loved all boys' sports, and have a lot of scars to prove it. I was a tomboy through and through, but never identified myself as a male. Is it confusion about oneself, or a real phenomena?

It's a real, though very rare, perceptual condition, related to body dysmorphia. The person quite simply does not see themselves as either gender. It has nothing to do with sexuality at all, just their own perception of their bodies.

Not saying I understand it - though I try. To give you an analogy: You are 7 years old. Your best friend is 7 years old. The only real difference between you is you squat behind a tree to have a pee, while your friend stands. Gender doesn't really come into it. They just stay in that mind set.