LGBT prison: What 's really like to be a gay man behd bars | Metro News

Contents:

• WHAT ’S REALLY LIKE TO BE OPENLY GAY PRISON
• 10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS
• COMG OUT AS GAY – PRISON
• AIR FORCE VETERAN ONCE IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY STILL ENDUR THE STIGMA OF A FELONY RERD
• ‘BEG GAY PRISON IS TEN TIM HARR’: INMAT TELL OF ABE, USE OF SOLARY
• TURKEY IS BUILDG THE WORLD'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRISON
• HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY
• UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS
• ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS
• GAYS PRISON
• THE UNEXPECTED GAY LEGACY 'PRISON BREAK' IS LEAVG BEHD
• GAY PRITS: BREAKG THE SILENCE
• [WATCH] UNSEEN FOOTAGE OF KG VON CLAIMG HE’S GAY TO BE PLACED PRISON PROTECTIVE CTODY
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

WHAT ’S REALLY LIKE TO BE OPENLY GAY PRISON

Although a signifint number of prisoners actively engage nsensual or ercive sexual relatns wh fellow prisoners, homophobia prevails. Officially the Prison Service has said that “do not ndone or facilate sexual relatnships between prisoners”, but every prison the untry has a “ndom policy”, while staff generally follow the tac “don’t ask, don’t tell” ambiguy and hypocrisy means that sights about the realy of the prison experience for gay men and women prison are hard to e the Howard League for Penal Reform unrtook an pennt missn to review the nature and sle of sex prison earlier this year, requts by rearchers to speak to servg prisoners were blocked by the Mistry of Jtice.

One gay man explaed how he was forced to live unr the “protectn” of another prisoner and subjected to “sexual torture” over a prolonged perd.

10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS

” Others said they had sexual partners who were outwardly “macho” and “anti-gay” and were stag relatnships wh wiv or girliends through letters and viss – the were “jail gays”, they said, “gay on the si”, but apparently straight on the outsi. A unique and enlighteng new book of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) prison experienc, wrten by prisoners and staff om HMP Parc south Wal, may fally brg about change. The book, Insi and Out, was the ia of the prison’s arts terventn and muny cln manager, Phil Forr, himself a gay man who “me out” at work five years has been nng Parc’s monthly LGBT support group for more than two years.

COMG OUT AS GAY – PRISON

It’s both about tacklg homophobia and challengg people who exprs views that are unacceptable and about gettg people to feel fortable wh themselv and more motivated to buy to a rehabilative culture prison and society. Anthony’s story Anthony, prisonerI always knew I was gay – even as a small boy – but I also knew that the Traveller muny this was totally not acceptable and was seen as a mental problem.

When that happened I never had any support om anyone else, not even others who were bisexual or gay. The majory of prisoners felt that gay, bisexual or transgenr people were sick and as a rult you were nstantly targeted jt for beg the way you are. It’s a lot down to the environment you are livg and the attus of those around officer’s view Gny, prison officerMaybe ’s bee the gay muny the prison is rather small that relatnships are so cliquey, or maybe ’s bee this job is possibly only sued to strong dividuals, that so many gay women f so well.

AIR FORCE VETERAN ONCE IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY STILL ENDUR THE STIGMA OF A FELONY RERD

I was told the other day by a client: “Leave some women for will ya, ”… news had obvly got out that I had a date on the relatnship Daniel, prisonerBeg gay prison is difficult. Other prisoners would crack jok and say bad thgs about gay men and I would jt have to listen.

I am not the sort of guy that you would look at and say “he’s gay”, as I look like everyone else – a b rough – and I have a reputatn for beg que hard. What follows are 10 thgs I learned om the perspective of a gay man and ex-mate at a feral prison mp.

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

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

Not to be stereotypil but as a gay man, I had some refed tast food before gettg sent away.

The one advantage of beg a gay prisoner is that you are sometim approached for a barter. You’re hardly likely to tell a stranger wearg a uniform that you’re gay, pecially if you’ve watched any classic prison dramaPhil Forr is a prison manager at a Brish men’s jail.

The jok and banter he endured om everyone around him ma a ep imprsn on me bee I harboured a secret: I too was gay but unlike poor Ray I was able to nceal .

TURKEY IS BUILDG THE WORLD'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRISON

Let’s face , havg jt land ctody you’re hardly likely to tell a stranger wearg a uniform that you’re gay, pecially if you’ve recently watched any classic prison dramas. I’d now bee “the only gay the prison”, which, lookg back on was que ridiculo nsirg the LGBT+ staff/prisoner populatn exceed 1, 500 at the time.

First, the gay men need to feel safe enough to reveal themselv, and send, any emergg homophobia need to be challenged.

HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY

Such was the stigma of beg gay at that time, that even to be seen fendg was emed spic. I need some great hero that everyone admired to pay a vis and once they had everyone’s attentn, jt happen to mentn that they were gay. However, the most enuragg tone this tnted stggle for acceptance only occurred a few weeks ago when the gay prisoners produced their own hero of sorts.

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.

UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS

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”.

"Intifyg the thoands of s has posed an immense challenge, VanLandgham said, bee of the wi variatn charg employed to force gay and lbian service members out of the ary. Article 125 of the Uniform Co of Milary Jtice directly crimalized homosexual activy by outlawg "unnatural rnal pulatn, " while other statut like "nduct unbeg an officer, " "cent acts" and "makg a false official statement" were ed as ver charg to dm gay men and women out of the service on the basis of their sexual orientatn. Steve Marose served as an Air Force officer the late 1980s and had an excellent rerd until the ary learned he was gay.

ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS

A Geia man who was sentenced to a year at Fort Leavenworth 1990 for havg a homosexual relatnship wh another soldier was pardoned by Print Obama 2017 after years of appeals. " An untold number of others were rcerated unr offens that may appear to have nothg to do wh homosexualy. A Lato gay man, Guzman says an terview that he was often sent to solary nfement for fendg himself and other LGBTQ+ mat agast other mat and prison staff.

GAYS PRISON

Over time, he me to see himself as an advote and activist, providg physil protectn to other gay mat. Over the weekend, Jtice Mister Bekir Bozdag announced that the ernment has e up wh an plan to “protect nvicts” by nstctg separate prisons for openly gay or transgenr mat. "Convicts who stated that they are gay will not mix wh other nvicts the munal area, or durg social activi the new prison facili, " Bozdag wrote rponse to the parliamentary qutn om an opposn tablishment of the prisons is meant to prevent Turkish LGBT mat om abe.

This is an unprecented move, and the first time somethg like this has been tablished recent world Koylu, a spokman for the Ankara-based gay rights group Kaos GL, was quick to rpond today. "Instead of creatg public areas where people om all sexual orientatns n live together, the ernment has once aga chosen to ostracize homosexuals. In the Turkish ary, you are only exempt om the draft if you are sick, disabled or a homosexual.

THE UNEXPECTED GAY LEGACY 'PRISON BREAK' IS LEAVG BEHD

Acrdg to a 2013 World Valu Survey, 9 out of 10 people Turkey say they wouldn’t appreciate havg homosexual neighbors. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Kamala Harris has been a vol supporter of LGBTQ rightsUS Vice-Print Kamala Harris who is on a tour of three Ain untri - Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia - has drawn cricism over her support for LGBTQ Ghana, a speech llg for "all people be treated equally" she appeared to cricise a bill before the untry's parliament which crimalis advocy for gay rights and propos jail terms for those that intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, or untry's Speaker Alban Bagb later lled her remarks "unmocratic" and urged lawmakers not to be "timidated by any person" Tanzania, a former mister spoke agast US support for LGBTQ rights ahead of the vis and Zambia some opposn policians have threatened to hold is homosexualy still outlawed?

GAY PRITS: BREAKG THE SILENCE

In the same month, the high urt Barbados stck out laws that crimalised gay July last year, the urts Antigua and Barbuda clared a law crimalisg same-sex acts between nsentg adults Febary 2021, Angola's Print Joao Louren signed to law a revised penal to allow same-sex relatnships and ban discrimatn on the basis of sexual 2020, Gabon reversed a law that had crimalised homosexualy and ma gay sex punishable wh six months prison and a large fe. Mozambique and the Seychell have also scrapped anti-homosexualy laws recent there are untri where existg laws outlawg homosexualy have been tightened, cludg Nigeria and 's parliament recently passed a law to crack down on homosexual activi, promptg wispread source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Campaign agast LGBTQ rights some Ain untri has tensified recent weeksAnd some untri, efforts to get the laws removed have May 2019, the high urt Kenya upheld laws crimalisg homosexual acts.

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

In Febary his year Kenya's hight urt led that was wrong for thori to ban the gay muny om registerg a rights anisatn.

And many plac, breakg the laws uld be punishable by long prison of the 53 untri the Commonwealth - a loose associatn of untri most of them former Brish loni - 29 have laws that crimalise homosexualy. Although the origal Brish laws applied only to men, untri that crimalise homosexualy today also have penalti for women who have sex wh Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (Ilga) monors the progrs of laws relatg to homosexualy around the says the ath penalty is the legally prcribed punishment for same-sex sexual acts Bnei, Iran, Mrania, Sdi Arabia, Yemen and some northern stat of five untri - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the Uned Arab Emirat - there is no legal clary and the ath penalty uld be source, AFPImage ptn, An Indian gay rights activist protts agast a urt lg 2013 upholdg a law which crimalis gay repealed the ath penalty for nsensual same-sex sexual acts observers note that the risk of prosecutn some plac is mimal.

For example, a 2017 report on Jamai by the UK Home Office said that Jamai was regard as a homophobic society, but that the "thori do not actively seek to prosecute LGBT persons". Activist groups say the abily of lbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) anisatns to rry out advocy work is beg rtricted. When I started my Prison Service reer 2006 aged 21, I did so as an openly gay member of staff, not jt to lleagu but to everyone, cludg people prison.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

If you take the big step of beg out to offenrs, I’ll not lie, be prepared that you will e across the odd one or two who will replace the ual thgs they shout at staff wh some homophobic ments. I worked wh a prisoner who had prevly ‘gay bashed’ people, and through talkg to him about beg LGBTI+ and answerg his qutns, he changed his opns to such a pot that one of his bt iends fally felt able to ‘e out’ to him after 18 years of iendship. This sectn specifilly addrs issu particular to lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals prisons.

KAMPALA, Uganda — Members of Uganda’s LGBTQ muny are shock and fear beg arrted after Parliament passed a measure that would make a crime to intify as gay and impose tough sentenc that clu the ath penalty certa s, an activist said “Anti-Homosexualy Bill, 2023” was passed wh a near-unanimo majory by lawmakers  the east Ain untry, where anti-gay sentiment ns ep. Ronald Kabuubi / APThe legislatn will next be sent to Print Yoweri Meveni, who has repeatedly nounced homosexualy, to be signed to Mugisha, one of a few Ugandans who live openly as gay, told Rters he was sred the measure would trigger “mass arrts of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer persons and mob vlence toward LGBTQ muni. There’s gog to be a lot of trma and s of mental health that will lead to a lot of suici, ” he relatns were already illegal Uganda, but supporters of the new law say is need to punish a broar array of LGBTQ activi, which they say threaten tradnal valu the nservative and relig East Ain measure clus steep sentenc that clu ath for “aggravated homosexualy” and life prison for same-sex relatns.

Aggravated homosexualy volv same-sex relatns wh people unr age 18 or when the perpetrator is HIV-posive, among other tegori, acrdg to the legislatn. Gays and Lbians of Zimbabwe, another advocy group that signed the manifto, said is important LGBTQ and tersex people and their ncerns are heard.