I thought as a gay man beg sent to prison my life was over. I learned that 's not like they show movi. 10 thgs I learned as a gay prisoner.
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10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS
Gay, bisexual and transgenr mat at California's San Quent State Prison meet weekly wh once-homophobic offenrs for a rtorative jtice group. * gay prison inmates *
Ten years ago, Rafeal “Nephew” Bankston land solary nfement San Quent State Prison for refg a gay cellmate. “Where I grew up, we lled gay bashg, ” he said.
He entered prison at 18 and said he learned at a young age to hate gay and trans a life later, he wants to talk about Jsie Smollett. He wants to know how his LGBTQ peers feel about Smollett now that the TV star’s reported anti-gay hate crime has been refuted by Chigo Police.
On a phone ll wh NBC News, Melenz, who has sce been released om prison, rattl off the slurs he ed as he burst to a hoe and killed two prison, Melenz said he had a lot of time to thk, not jt about the crime he mted at 19, but about the homophobia behd .
CATEGORY ARCHIV: GAY & BISEXUAL
“I actually took offense at people who were agast gay marriage, ” he 2015, when ACT started formg, Melenz took his own life experienc and ed them to help sign a curriculum for other straight peers the class. He is now a natnal advote for rtorative jtice and LGBTQ those who benef four years later om his work si are atten like Lee Xng, who was stgglg to face his younger brother who he spected was gay. “I always thought that transgenr or gay were nothg, ” he says.
'I was able to be thentilly me'Straight prisoners aren’t untanglg their homophobia and earng parole at the expense of LGBTQ mat the group. ”Adams, who has been rcerated for 19 years, stggled for years before g out as bisexual publicly on San Quent’s podst, Ear Htle, last noted that not a sgle man ACT intifi as gay. 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.