The grim tth of beg gay prison | Sadhbh Walshe | The Guardian

Contents:

• INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR
• THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
• 10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS
• CATEGORY ARCHIV: GAY & BISEXUAL
• BLACK AND GAY AN ARIZONA PRISON
• ‘BEG GAY PRISON IS TEN TIM HARR’: INMAT TELL OF ABE, USE OF SOLARY
• THE GAY MARRIAG OF A NETEENTH-CENTURY PRISON SHIP
• [WATCH] UNSEEN FOOTAGE OF KG VON CLAIMG HE’S GAY TO BE PLACED PRISON PROTECTIVE CTODY
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

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 GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON

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.

10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS

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. 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.

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.

CATEGORY ARCHIV: GAY & BISEXUAL

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. Gay men who do not attempt to hi their sexualy are forced to passive and submissive rol.

BLACK AND GAY AN ARIZONA PRISON

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. 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. Some men do go gay for the stay too but nobody the term “gay”. Fally, gay mat ually stick together.

‘BEG GAY PRISON IS TEN TIM HARR’: INMAT TELL OF ABE, USE OF SOLARY

But even then, don’t expect fair treatment – particularly if someone wh thory don’t like gay people. Not to be stereotypil but as a gay man, I had some refed tast food before gettg sent away.

As a gay man, I prid myself my pearly wh. Remember when I said gay sex is unmon at prison? The one advantage of beg a gay prisoner is that you are sometim approached for a barter.

THE GAY MARRIAG OF A NETEENTH-CENTURY PRISON SHIP

I’ve been asked if gay men have prison boyiends. First, the relatnships are almost always kept on the DL, even if you are openly gay. Other observatns as a gay prisoner:.

[WATCH] UNSEEN FOOTAGE OF KG VON CLAIMG HE’S GAY TO BE PLACED PRISON PROTECTIVE CTODY

Some are gay and some aren't. Regardls if you are gay or straight, dog time prison is extremely hard. When you are gay, 's a ltle different.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

Eighteen terviewe self-intified as heterosexual, four as gay, and four as bisexual. Gay and bisexual men reported that while they were “fairly” or “totally” open about their sexualy on the wg, they were discreet about their sexual activi and relatnships.

One heterosexual man said that he had had nsensual sex wh gay or bisexual prisoners “out of necsy”. Some terviewe observed that they had known some openly homosexual upl beg allowed to share cells some stutns.

One terviewee reported that a senr officer had moved a young prisoner, who had nfid he was “nfed” about his sexualy, to the cell of an openly gay, olr prisoner, orr to help him “sort himself out”.