<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
Acrdg to the Metropolan Police, the last nvictns for nng a 'disorrly hoe were brought 1990 agast two men who ran a gay sna Streatham (they were imprisoned for three and six months rpectively) of the boys here are actors between jobs, but there are also office workers who are to the gay club scene a big way and who nnot fance this liftyle solely out of a regular wage. He do have is a very good atmosphere and I often go to 'Tra (a gay club) wh the boys after work on Saturday night. 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.
ROUGH TRA REVIEW: GAY LIFE AS ECHO CHAMBER
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.
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.