In the Gay Wg of L.A. Men's Central Jail, It's Not Shanks and Mugggs But Hand-Sewn Gowns and Tears - LA Weekly

Contents:

• IN THE GAY WG OF L.A. MEN'S CENTRAL JAIL, IT'S NOT SHANKS AND MUGGGS BUT HAND-SEWN GOWNS AND TEARS
• DRAG SHOWS, WEDDGS, AND POLE DANCG: INSI THE L.A. JAIL’S GAY WG
• LOS ANGEL' JAIL HAS THE COUNTRY'S ONLY 'GAY WG' FOR INMAT
• BUFFALO WILD WGS WAS MY ONE-MAN GAY BAR
• SMOKY MOUNTAS WILDFLOWERS: GAY WGS
• GAY CISG WG (ILLOIS)
• GAY CISG WG (NORTH CAROLA)
• PLANT PROFIL GAY WGS
• MOSW GAY BARS
• MOSW GAY CISE CLUBS
• MOSW GAY MAP

IN THE GAY WG OF L.A. MEN'S CENTRAL JAIL, IT'S NOT SHANKS AND MUGGGS BUT HAND-SEWN GOWNS AND TEARS

Williams, a transgenr mate known on the si as Yah Yah, glis past a hootg and hollerg crowd of her fellow gay and transgenr mat, perched atop their beds for a prime view. But among the roughly 400 people hoed “K6G, ” the gay wg of Men’s Central Jail, there’s ltle outward exprsn of racial prejudice or gang rivalry.

Dunn Roy, a gay Brish film producer who was held K6G for 89 days whout bail 2012, unr ex–Sheriff Lee Ba’s ntroversial terpretatn of “immigratn holds, ” rells, “In other parts of the jail, you try and smuggle dgs and cigarett. The gay wg at Men’s Central Jail is an exceptnally rare, if not unique, subculture, the only environment of s kd a major U. Nothg like exists Ameri’s 21 largt urban jails, all ntacted by the Weekly, where officials scribed far more most terms their own steps to al wh and hoe gay mat.

San Francis has a transgenr hog area, but gay mat live among the general populatn. In New York’s Rikers Island, whose siar gay wg was shuttered 2005, a jail spokman lghed out loud, sayg that whoever cis which men get placed L. County’s gay jail wg “mt have really good gay-dar.

DRAG SHOWS, WEDDGS, AND POLE DANCG: INSI THE L.A. JAIL’S GAY WG

” The clost thg to a gay wg another big, urban jail system, though isn’t close at all, is at the Old Wayne County Jail Detro, which offers a small number of locked cells to gay and transgenr mat. MCJ’s gay wg was set up rponse to a 1985 ACLU lawsu, which aimed to protect homosexual mat om a higher threat of physil vlence than heterosexuals faced. Another mate of the gay wg at Men's Central Jail stts her stuff.

She’s bee somethg of a n mother for the revolvg muny of gay and transgenr mat. Today, some straight mat vie to get placed MCJ’s gay wg, part bee ’s a safer harbor for ex-gangbangers aaid of beg nonted by vlent enemi, jailers say.

LOS ANGEL' JAIL HAS THE COUNTRY'S ONLY 'GAY WG' FOR INMAT

The Sheriff’s Department even a “classifitn officer” to weed out impostors, through a seri of ntroversial tt qutns about gay culture.

Deputy Sheriff Javier Machado, a classifitn officer, reli on a seri of go-to qutns, such as askg purportedly gay mat to name a lol gay bar they equent. If an g mate manag to rrectly name a gay bar L.

Acrdg to the gay mat, another reason some straight men try to get to K6G is that they want to hook up wh often-pretty transgenr tae. But a major reason, almost certaly, is that the gay wg is a far ls dangero, more humane place to be.

BUFFALO WILD WGS WAS MY ONE-MAN GAY BAR

David Arrieta, one gay mate given permissn to speak to the Weekly and be viotaped si the gay wg, explas, “Beg a Hoe Moe [the heterosexual si of Men’s Central Jail], you are nsired a rat, whereas K6G you are nsired a fairy. Dunn Roy, the producer, says the Hoe Moe the gay wg is a “very powerful posn [bee] is the liaison between the puti and the dorms.

SMOKY MOUNTAS WILDFLOWERS: GAY WGS

When mat are first assigned to a gay dorm, they are immediately stripped of their general-populatn, dark blue jail uniforms and given the powr-blue uniforms that signify they are gay or transgenr.

As Roy not, “For the first time my life, I was intifiably gay. Acrdg to one litenant, the gay mat ntually tweak their bleak environment. Every Friday, the gay dorms put on self-anized events such as “Fay Night, ” which they prent fashn shows, and engage “dorm datg” (a form of speed datg).

In one of the three gay dorms, mat pete Mr. Gay Dorm 9100, named after their room number. In the gay wg, soap be strangely effective hair product, and foil is refully svenged om the si of cereal box to be fashned to shy silver buttons.

GAY CISG WG (ILLOIS)

A mobile the gay wg ma of cereal box and magaze pag; Cred: Photo by Ani Ur.

It might almost appear, to an outsir, as if MCJ’s gay and transsexual mat are gently mockg society’s expectatns of how crimals are supposed to act when nfed behd bars for long perds of time. For years, gay prison mat have been sgled out for mistreatment and persecutn.

Alexanr Lara, wrg the Southern California Interdisciplary Law Journal, reported that a 2007 study of California mat showed 5 percent of straight men were victims of sexual asslt cludg rape, while “an astonishg” 67 percent of gay, bisexual and transgenr mat were. Block, brought by ACLU attorney John Hagar on behalf of gay and transgenr mat, set forth procr and ndns for their safety and secury. The ndns led to MCJ’s tablishment of the gay and transgenr dorms.

GAY CISG WG (NORTH CAROLA)

Early on, two jail puti mted themselv to the reforms, acrdg to UCLA law profsor Sharon Dolovich, who has extensively studied the gay wg at MCJ.

… Inmat were able to report thgs such as ‘Hey, there is a predator here, ’ or ‘There is a puty on the floor g homophobic language, ’ or ‘Someone threatened me. Not so the gay wg.

The Hoe Moe explas that dorm’s needs — such as a toilet-paper shortage — to the jailers, and munit om the jailers to the gay populatn. A Hoe Moe another gay dorm, Rub, explas that his role is to ensure that mat follow puti’ l, such as quietly lyg down on their beds, facg the aisleway and fully drsed their blu, “out of rpect” when the puti brg their meals. Few mat the gay wg are acced of mtg vlent crim.

PLANT PROFIL GAY WGS

He says none were the gay wg purely due to prostutn — which today rults a catn and release the field — though many are prostut.

MOSW GAY BARS

Such ntrasts between the gay wg and far more vlent general populatn help expla why, at least part, que a few straight arrte and nvicts try to talk their way si K6G.

Among other thgs, mat the gay wg are rted everywhere they go, cludg to the medil clic or urt. Machado believ straight men, fearful of gang reprisal the unpredictable general populatn, are seekg add secury when they try to talk their way to the gay wg.

Durg his time si, he says, he found that only two kds of guys tried to get onto the gay wg — boyiends who got released om K6G and were purposely re-arrted to be rned wh their partners, and “trans chasers, ” or straight mat who want to sleep wh and be served by transsexual women. It’s the same way the gay muny.

MOSW GAY CISE CLUBS

C., says the Sheriff’s Department screeng system is “an attempt to unrstand the gay muny, but ’s oversimplified.

Exte suggts, for example, that the jailers’ qutns are based upon stereotypil views of gay and transgenr life, and fail to acknowledge that some GBT men headg behd bars are not party-oriented or culturally up to date, and they simply don’t know the right answers.

MOSW GAY MAP

“A jail is a jail — ’s a vlent, and sperate, and ld and miserable place, ” says Roy, who mced no words claimg that Sheriff’s puti openly mistreated mat while he served his time the gay wg. Another ntributg factor to aggrsn the gay wg, Roy says, may be that many of the trans women are takg hormon to grow or enlarge their breasts or rce their facial hair or mcl, or they have been nied hormon that they were prcribed prr to rceratn and are experiencg whdrawal symptoms. Gay Dorm 9100 ntt on Friday nights.