What 's like to be gay and a gang

Contents:

• INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR
• 'CHECK IT' IS A NEW DOCUMENTARY ABOUT AMERI'S ONLY ALL-GAY GANG
• THE PRICE OF BEG GAY THE MS-13 GANG? DEATH
• I WENT TO THE SKETCHIT GAY BAR IN NEW YORK CY AND IT WAS THE MOST HORRIFYG EXPERIENCE OF MY ENTIRE LIFE
• LEARN ABOUT THE GAY GANG THAT SUPPORTS S MEMBERS BEHD BARS
• GAYS THE GANG
• 58+ GAY TEAM NAM | LGBTQ, TRIVIA, FUNNY GAY CLUB NAME IAS
• GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN
• REPORT: SWATCH GROUP SU COUNTRY THAT ALLEGEDLY SEIZED ITS GAY PRI WATCH
• 'CHECK IT' IS A NEW DOCUMENTARY ABOUT AMERI'S ONLY ALL-GAY GANG

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.

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.

'CHECK IT' IS A NEW DOCUMENTARY ABOUT AMERI'S ONLY ALL-GAY GANG

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. LONG BEACH >> Serg Romero knew would be difficult for his mother to accept that the 37-year-old was gay, but still shocked and hurt him to learn she preferred her son to be an active gang member than to be gay.

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

“For her, I was more of a man as a gang member than beg gay, ” said Romero as he sat a Los Angel ffee shop tellg his story of beg an active member of a notor street gang and gay.

He is one of the men featured a documentary, “Homeboy, ” on Lato gang members who are gay that will be screened this weekend at the QFilm Ftival, Long Beach’s longt-nng film ftival prentg narrative featur, documentari and short films about the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer (LGBTQ) muny. Gay gang members who are Lato gangs not only have to al wh the stereotypil machismo seen Lato culture, D said, they have to ntend wh the hyper-mascule posturg wh the gang microculture. “Before social media and Facebook, I had to post fliers gay bars orr to fd people willg to talk to me, ” D said.

I WENT TO THE SKETCHIT GAY BAR IN NEW YORK CY AND IT WAS THE MOST HORRIFYG EXPERIENCE OF MY ENTIRE LIFE

Wh an timated 9 ln Amerins intifyg as gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenr, acrdg to a 2011 report om the Williams Instute at the UCLA School of Law, gays are part of nearly every aspect of life, even wh the gang life. However, an exact number of openly gay gang members is difficult to e by sce many do not disclose their sexual orientatn. It took Manuel — he wanted to e only his first name — several years to adm he was gay.

Manuel spent nearly two years Cho Instutn for Men on a dg nvictn the ’90s and said he did engage homosexual activi behd bars but was nial about the fact he was gay.

LEARN ABOUT THE GAY GANG THAT SUPPORTS S MEMBERS BEHD BARS

“I kept sayg to myself I wasn’t gay bee I had a girliend and was only dog that bee I was prison, ” said the 33-year-old man who liv the Inland Empire. While most gay gang members operate wh tradnal gangs, there is a group ma up solely of gay crimals.

GAYS THE GANG

The Gay Boy Gangsters are part of a group of prison gangs that have spng up on the sensive needs yards, acrdg to Richard Valmar, a gang expert and retired Los Angel Police Department gang tective. Those yards at California state prisons are signated for mat requirg special protectn, such as certa sex offenrs, rmants and homosexuals. “What happens is you get the guys on the special needs yards who know how to be gang members and they form the gangs, ” Srrano said, addg that the ma reason Gay Boy Gangsters members formed this alliance is their sexual preference.

58+ GAY TEAM NAM | LGBTQ, TRIVIA, FUNNY GAY CLUB NAME IAS

Manuel has been livg as a gay man for nearly a and is a mted relatnship.

Rs’ and Manuel’s fai ially grappled wh acceptg their sons as gay, but both say they now have great relatnships wh them, pecially their mothers. “That’s where I had my first open homosexual enunter, ” Romero said. Gay men sometim jo or form gangs, which may be surprisg.

GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN

Several very meangful differenc arise om the gang’s rat of heterosexual to gay, lbian, and bisexual gang members.

My recent book, The Gang’s All Queer: The Liv of Gay Gang Members par men three typ of gangs: gay, straight, and hybrid.

Gay gangs were ma up exclively or nearly exclively of GLB people, while the straight gangs were ma up of a majory of heterosexual people. A few primarily-straight gangs had a cril mass of gay, lbian, or bisexual members—anywhere om about a quarter to almost one half—which I ll hybrid gangs. Straight gangs were anized by neighborhoods, wh men jog pre-existg groups, while the gay gangs were stctured around their shared sexual inty, and many helped form their gangs.

REPORT: SWATCH GROUP SU COUNTRY THAT ALLEGEDLY SEIZED ITS GAY PRI WATCH

On average, men joed gay gangs nearly four years later life than men who joed straight gangs, and they were out when they joed. Men gay gangs were more likely to feel that they were re members of their gangs than those straight gangs, and to scribe their gangs as their fai. This was, of urse, te for the gay gangs as well.

'CHECK IT' IS A NEW DOCUMENTARY ABOUT AMERI'S ONLY ALL-GAY GANG

However, most of the men I talked to still exprsed nventnal mascule ials, like valug toughns and fightg abily, and some were quick to sult (but not harm) men who they thought were “too gay” or who acted like “fags. As for the gay gangs’ activi, they clud hangg out together and dancg at clubs, engagg fancial crim they lled “craftg, ” and sellg sex, which most referred to as “rtg.

Though some men gay gangs did sell dgs, they were far ls likely to sell dgs wh the gang ntext. The gay gangs’ vlence mostly took place at or began om nflicts at gay clubs or gay-themed events. Much of this vlence was over beg “known, ” or creatg a public persona as a gay man their home cy of Columb, Oh.