I Thought Beg Gay Was a S Until I Saw My Friend Suffer Prison | The Marshall Project

Contents:

• 10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS
• THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
• DO PRISONS MAKE PEOPLE GAY?
• COOMA JAIL: PRISON THAT WAS ONCE 'WORLD'S ONLY JAIL FOR GAY MEN'
• ‘BEG GAY PRISON IS TEN TIM HARR’: INMAT TELL OF ABE, USE OF SOLARY
• I THOUGHT BEG GAY WAS A S UNTIL I SAW MY FRIEND SUFFER  PRISON

10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS

Homosexualy is a choice, jt look at the prisons, Republin nrosurgeon Ben Carson said on CNN. He also argued that homosexualy is a choice, rather than blogil. "Bee a lot of people who go to prison go to prison straight -- and when they e out, they're gay.

We’ll jump to the pot here: There is no nclive evince to support Carson’s claim that "a lot of people" make a swch om heterosexual to homosexual while prison. Further, the medil muny tends to nclu that homosexualy is not a matter of choice -- notably the Amerin Psychologil Associatn.

THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON

Of those 24, 18 changed om straight to bisexual, three changed om bisexual to straight, and one each changed om bisexual to gay, gay to bisexual, and gay to straight. It’s possible that people go to prison unaware of their sexualy, and then once they are exposed to homosexual behavr as an mate, they realize that they are gay or bisexual, Helen Eigenberg, who also studi prison sexualy as a profsor at the Universy of Tennsee at Chattanooga, said an terview wh PoliFact. They might thk that jt bee they played a role a homosexual act, they are now gay, which is not necsarily te.

Greg Herek, a psychology profsor at the Universy of California Davis who studi sexual orientatn, poted to a natnally reprentative study that shows the vast majory of gay men and women do not perceive their sexual orientatn as a rult of choice. People n change their behavr -- such as engagg homosexual behavr prison -- but that do not equate to a change orientatn, Bailey, the Northwtern rearcher, told PoliFact.

DO PRISONS MAKE PEOPLE GAY?

Carson said, "A lot of people who go to prison straight, and when they e out they’re gay. Rpected scientists nsir settled that homosexualy is not a matter of choice. CNN, "Ben Carson: Prisons prove beg gay is a choice, " March 4, 2015.

PoliFact, "Tim Pawlenty says scientists are " dispute" over whether beg gay is a choice, " July 13, 2011. PoliFact, "Tim Pawlenty says there's no scientific ncln that beg gay is geic, " July 13, 2011. Washgton Post, "What experts say about Ben Carson’s turng-gay--prison claim, " March 4, 2015.

Sexual Rearch and Social Policy, "Demographic, Psychologil, and Social Characteristics of Self-Intified Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults a US Probabily Sample, " September 2010. 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.

COOMA JAIL: PRISON THAT WAS ONCE 'WORLD'S ONLY JAIL FOR GAY MEN'

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”.

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

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.

I THOUGHT BEG GAY WAS A S UNTIL I SAW MY FRIEND SUFFER  PRISON

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. But even then, don’t expect fair treatment – particularly if someone wh thory don’t like gay people.