Gay and a gang: Film tells story of a jailed hman El Salvador | Rters

Contents:

• EVIL TWKS AND GAY GANGSTERS: WHY WE NEED TO REMEMBER HISTORY’S HORRID HOMOSEXUALS
• INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR
• MY GAY PRISON GANG FIGHTS NEO-NAZIS
• TWO GAY MEN BTALLY ATTACKED BY GANG OF TEN HOMOPHOBIC TEENS
• HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE
• GAY AND A GANG: FILM TELLS STORY OF A JAILED HMAN EL SALVADOR
• HOW 4 GAY BLACK WOMEN FOUGHT BACK AGAST SEXUAL HARASSMENT — AND LAND IN JAIL
• GAYNGSTER
• GAY BLACK YOUTHS GO OM ATTACKED TO ATTACKERS

EVIL TWKS AND GAY GANGSTERS: WHY WE NEED TO REMEMBER HISTORY’S HORRID HOMOSEXUALS

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.

INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR

” In this particular prison, San Francis Gotera, the east of the Central Amerin untry, gang culture was not the only source of vilent homophobia.

MY GAY PRISON GANG FIGHTS NEO-NAZIS

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. “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.

TWO GAY MEN BTALLY ATTACKED BY GANG OF TEN HOMOPHOBIC TEENS

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.

At the time, one of the gangs, which lled themselv the Aryan Knights, ed “beatg up fags and chomos (child molters)” as an iatn for new members. But that meant that a number of gay men and transgenr women sudnly wanted to be my boyiend (or girliend), not bee they liked me that way, but bee they figured I’d protect them. When one person is persecuted or abed, and there is somethg I n do about , pecially if that person is my gay or trans brother or sister, is my problem.

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. 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.

HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

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

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.

GAY AND A GANG: FILM TELLS STORY OF A JAILED HMAN EL SALVADOR

” 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. 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.

HOW 4 GAY BLACK WOMEN FOUGHT BACK AGAST SEXUAL HARASSMENT — AND LAND IN JAIL

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.

But was important to them to be able to nstct an inty as a man who wasn’t gog to be msed wh – a man who also happened to be gay. ” They were also willg to fend others rid as “fags” public, even though this uld signal that they were gay themselv. The ebacks challenge many of the assumptns ma about gay men – that they lack nerve, that they’re unwillg to physilly fight.

GAYNGSTER

It also munited a belief that was clearly nonnegotiable: a fundamental right to not be bothered simply for beg gay. Group of approximately 10 teenaged boys and girls btally attacked two gay men a parkg lot England this past weekend, leavg one man unnsc and both wh multiple actur to the face along wh other ser juri.

GAY BLACK YOUTHS GO OM ATTACKED TO ATTACKERS

The group ed homophobic language before engagg an unprovoked btal asslt on the 22-year-old victim was knocked unnsc and suffered multiple actur to his cheek, nose, and eye socket.