<p><strong>Sadhbh Walshe:</strong> The myth is that prison is a gay man's paradise. The realy is a choice of eher rape and abe or enslavement as a 'prison ho'</p>
Contents:
- THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
- 10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS
- COOMA JAIL'S DARK PAST CLUS BEG WORLD'S ONLY 'GAY PRISON', PODST REVEALS
THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
* gay prisons *
In 1984, when Calv Burde was awag sentencg for allegedly stabbg his gay lover to ath, the prosecutg attorney enuraged the jury his closg remarks to award Burde the ath penalty, rather than life prison, on the grounds that sendg a gay man to prison was ak to sendg a kid to a ndy store.
His ath sentence was later overturned (mostly bee Burde's public fenr had slept through much of his trial), but the homophobic thkg – that prison is some kd of paradise for gay men – lgers realy of life prison for homosexuals and transgenr dividuals do not appear to reflect this myth. He scribed a lany of btal rap, asslts, beatgs and, eventually, the total abandonment of his male inty as his only means of survival the hyper-mascule and often homophobic prison environment.
His acunt suggts that far om beg a paradise, prison for gay men n be a livg days of his first enterg prison, the 23-year-old Rodney claimed he was the victim of three separate sexual asslts, volvg five different mat. The prison he was first sent to did actually have a separate tier for gay mat, but acrdg to Rodney, bee he did not "appear overly effemate" durg his classifitn, he was placed wh the general populatn; and bee was supposedly rare to have a gay person slip through the cracks of the system, his fellow mat took full advantage. "Agast popular opn, jail is not heaven for a homosexual.
10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS
I thought as a gay man beg sent to prison my life was over. I learned that 's not like they show movi. 10 thgs I learned as a gay prisoner. * gay prisons *
Gay men who do not attempt to hi their sexualy are forced to passive and submissive rol. It's difficult to asss how typil Rodney's prison experience is, but numero studi nducted by the Bure of Jtice Statistics, based on anonymo mate surveys, have shown that gay and transgenr mat are among the most targeted groups for sexual victimizatn. Jt Detentn Internatnal (JDI), an anizatn whose aim is to eradite prison rape (pdf), is tryg to change has been workg wh the California Department of Correctns and Rehabilatn (CDCR) to tablish "sensive needs yards" (pdf), where gay, transgenr and other vulnerable mat n serve out their time safety.
COOMA JAIL'S DARK PAST CLUS BEG WORLD'S ONLY 'GAY PRISON', PODST REVEALS
The podster sharg stori about the world's only "gay prison", once loted regnal New South Wal, hop people will e forward wh new leads about the dark chapter LGBTQI+ history. * gay prisons *
The thought of beg a gay man prison sred the livg daylights out of me.
Worse, I feared that bee I was a gay man, I’d be an easy target for abe. Moreover, they also knew that I was gay. What follows are 10 thgs I learned om the perspective of a gay man and ex-mate at a feral prison mp.
My hope sharg this is to offer a realistic snapshot to gay men who get sent to prison.