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Comment by erikpukinskis | Hacker News Reader

> the SF Bay Area, which is known for being one of the most accepting places in the world for LGBT people

I live in the Bay. Maybe that is true, but in absolute terms the level of acceptance is still very low.

Like, if Denver is 10% accepting, the Bay might be 15%. Or something like that.

And Vallejo, while part of the Bay Area is a very different place than, say, the Castro. Culturally, it’s probably more like Detroit than San Francisco.

So I’m not sure if you can really draw any conclusions from your premise.

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Most of the Zizians who lived in Vallejo moved there from the Berkeley area. The reason they moved was because Curtis Lind felt empathetic and offered them extremely cheap rent. After not paying rent for years (despite at least one of them being an engineer at Google), they ambushed Lind, then tried to behead him and dissolve his body in a vat. Fortunately he was carrying a concealed firearm, so he shot them in self-defense, killing one. Three years later, Lind was murdered by another member before he could testify at the trial for his other attackers.

If there's any sort of marginalization by Lind in that story, I'm having a hard time finding it.

"Invest in residential rental property!" they said. "It will provide a great income stream for your retirement."

We need to keep in mind that Lind was forced by law to give them free rent for two years. He was not allowed to evict them for virtually any reason AFAIK, including nonpayment. Yes, he was supportive and generous, but at some point we all reach our limits, especially when dealing with sociopaths who are bent on taking every possible advantage.

(deleted incorrect claim)

I don’t know where you heard that. According to every article I could find, Borhanian was shot by Lind in self-defense[1]:

> Court records show that Lind shot two of his attackers, injuring one person and killing 31-year-old Emma Borhanian.

Back in 2019, Borhanian was arrested and charged with felony child endangerment and false imprisonment in a protest against a rationalist group.[2]

1. https://openvallejo.org/2025/01/27/man-killed-in-vallejo-was...

2. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Mystery-in-Sonom...

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