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

Contents:

• THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
• A FERAL MATE THREATENED ANOTHER FOR BEG GAY. THEN GUARDS MOVED THEM TO THE SAME CELL.
• HOW TO NOT BE PRISON RAPED AS A GAY MAN JAIL
• INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR

THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON

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.

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.

A FERAL MATE THREATENED ANOTHER FOR BEG GAY. THEN GUARDS MOVED THEM TO THE SAME CELL.

"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. 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.

Specifilly, prisoners ftg any part of the followg scriptn are more likely to be targeted: young, small size, physilly weak, whe, gay, first offenr, posssg "feme" characteristics such as long hair or a high voice; beg unassertive, unaggrsive, shy, tellectual, not street-smart, or "passive"; or havg been nvicted of a sexual offense agast a mor. The myth of the "homosexual predator" is groundls. Although gay mat are much more likely than other mat to be victimized prison, they are not likely to be perpetrators of sexual abe.

HOW TO NOT BE PRISON RAPED AS A GAY MAN JAIL

Meeker dividuals tend to "act Gay" is how 's scribed here and turn v asslt through the agrsors md. Numero judicial cisns, newspaper and magaze stori, and even some scholarly articl scribe the threat of "predatory homosexuals" prison and the problem of "homosexual rape.

"(208) Yet prisoners who self-intify as gay are much more likely than other prisoners to be targeted for rape, rather than beg themselv the perpetrators of . To some extent, the talk of predatory homosexual mat simply reflects a lack of semantic clary. Sce prisoner-on-prisoner rape is by fn homosexual, that volv persons of the same sex, s perpetrators are unthkgly labeled predatory homosexuals.

This termology is ceptive, however, that ignor the fact that the vast majory of prison rapists do not view themselv as gay. Ined, if they see anyone as gay, is the victim (even where the victim's sexual orientatn is clearly heterosexual).

INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR

The theory is that you are not gay or bisexual as long as YOU yourself do not allow another man to stick his penis to your mouth or anal passage.

Equal and voluntary gay relatnships do not f fortably wh this dichotomy. Although outsirs may perceive male prisons as a bastn of gay sexualy, the realy is que different. Gay relatnships typil of regular society are rare prison, and ually kept secret.

Ined, many gay mat--even those who are openly gay outsi of prison--refully hi their sexual inti while rcerated. They do so bee mat who are perceived as gay by other mat face a very high risk of sexual abe. Human Rights Watch has received reports of rape om numero gay mat, all of whom agree that their sexual orientatn ntributed to the likelihood of victimizatn.