Dwen Curry the ‘Origal Gay Gangster’ shar her story on Amerin Gangster: Trap Queens

Contents:

• INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR
• BT GAY ROMANCE MAFIA/YAKUZA/ORGANIZED CRIME
• MOB H MAN OUT OF THE CLOSET: ROBERT MORMANDO IS GAY AND REGRETS LIFE OF CRIME, HIS LAWYER SAYS
• THE PRICE OF BEG GAY THE MS-13 GANG? DEATH
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT
• DWEN CURRY THE ‘ORIGAL GAY GANGSTER’ SHAR HER STORY ON AMERIN GANGSTER: TRAP QUEENS
• REVIEWS
• DWEN CURRY THE ‘ORIGAL GAY GANGSTER’ SHAR HER STORY ON AMERIN GANGSTER: TRAP QUEENS
• 3 GAY GANGS BEG “KNOWN”

INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR

The prison director showed him an isolatn cell, where ne former gang members—om each of the untry’s three ma anized crime groups, MS-13, and two factns of Barr 18—had been moved after g out as gay. “Bee the gangs, if there’s even the spicn that you’re gay, you pay for wh your life.

” In this particular prison, San Francis Gotera, the east of the Central Amerin untry, gang culture was not the only source of vilent homophobia. The state had effectively ced ntrol of daily life si Gotera to church lears, who preach that homosexualy is a s as grave as vlence.

8—follows Geovany, a gay man who worked as a hman for Barr 18 and left the gang 2016. Livg the isolatn cell wh his partner and other gay mat, he grappl wh both his sexualy and his vlent past.

BT GAY ROMANCE MAFIA/YAKUZA/ORGANIZED CRIME

Homosexualy remas taboo and vlence and discrimatn agast LGBTQ people is rife. “How is possible for a untry to have s moral pass so broken that homosexualy and murr n feel the same?

“But the tth is that they are already nmned: they’ve left the gang; they’ve lived wh former members of other gangs; and they’ve lived openly as gay people, ” she says.

MOB H MAN OUT OF THE CLOSET: ROBERT MORMANDO IS GAY AND REGRETS LIFE OF CRIME, HIS LAWYER SAYS

The homosexual is the same, ” says a pastor one terview laid over a scene of him preachg to rapturo crowds the prison urtyard. ) Martez says the film is not an attempt to reem the subjects “jt bee they’re gay, jt bee they n show love or tenrns. There are many stereotyp of and assumptns about street gangs, jt as there are many stereotyp and assumptns about gay men.

In movi and televisn, some of the most regnizable gay characters have been portrayed as effemate or weak; they’re “fashnistas” or “gay bt iends.

THE PRICE OF BEG GAY THE MS-13 GANG? DEATH

This obv ntradictn was one of the ma reasons I was drawn to the subject of gay gang members. For my book “The Gang’s All Queer, ” I terviewed and spent time wh 48 gay or bisexual male gang members. All were between the ag of 18 and 28; the majory were men of lor; and all lived or near Columb, Oh, which has been referred to as a “Midwtern gay mec.

The experience, which took place over the urse of more than two years, allowed me to explore the tensns they felt between gang life and gay manhood.

Some of the gang members were gangs ma up of primarily gay, lbian or bisexual people.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Others were the only gay man (or one of a few) an otherwise “straight” gang.

DWEN CURRY THE ‘ORIGAL GAY GANGSTER’ SHAR HER STORY ON AMERIN GANGSTER: TRAP QUEENS

Then there were what I ll “hybrid” gangs, which featured a mix of straight, gay, lbian and bisexual members, but wh straight people still the majory. Bee even the ia of a gay man beg a gang fli the face of nventnal thought, the gang members I spoke wh had to nstantly rist or subvert a range of stereotyp and expectatns. I was openly gay – part of the “fay, ” as some of them put – and bee I was a stunt nductg rearch for a book, they were nfint that I stood a better chance of accurately reprentg them than any “straight novelist” or journalist.

REVIEWS

The gay men straight gangs I spoke wh knew precisely what was expected of them: be willg to fight wh rival gangs, monstrate toughns, date or have sex wh women and be fancially pennt. Beg openly gay uld threaten their stat as well as their safety.

Would the stat of the gang be promised, wh other gangs seeg them as “soft” for havg openly gay guys ?

DWEN CURRY THE ‘ORIGAL GAY GANGSTER’ SHAR HER STORY ON AMERIN GANGSTER: TRAP QUEENS

So most stayed the closet, ntug to project heterosexualy, while discreetly meetg other gay men unrground gay scen or over the ter.

He hadn’t known the others were gay, and they didn’t know about him, eher. In “hybrid” gangs (those wh a sizable mory of gay, lbian or bisexual people) or all-gay gangs, the men I terviewed were held to many of the same standards.

Men gay gangs were expected to be able to build a public reputatn as a gay man – what they lled beg “known. ” Beg “known” means you’re able to achieve many mascule ials – makg money, beg taken serly, gag stat, lookg good – but as an openly gay man.

3 GAY GANGS BEG “KNOWN”

This meant they need to clash wh rival gay crews, so they valued toughns and fightg prows. Men gay gangs pecially exprsed genue and heartfelt nnectns to their fellow gang members.

Some would also patrol each other’s masculy, sultg other gay men who were flamboyant or feme.

Cght between not wantg themselv or others to be prsured to act mascule all the time, but also not wantg to be read as visibly gay or weak (which uld ve challeng), ristance to beg seen as a “punk” or a phover was cril. It all seemed to e om a sire to upend damagg cultural stereotyp of gay men as weak, of black men as “adbeats” and offenrs, and of gang members as vlent thugs. One of the most pellg fdgs of my study was what happened when the gay gang members were risively lled “fag” or “faggot” by straight men bars, on b, schools or on the streets.