<p><strong>Sadhbh Walshe:</strong> The myth is that prison is a gay man's paradise. The realy is a choice of eher rape and abe or enslavement as a 'prison ho'</p>
Contents:
- REVIEW: ROBERT JON JR. SHEDS LIGHT ON LIV OF ENSLAVED GAY MEN ‘THE PROPHETS’
- THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
REVIEW: ROBERT JON JR. SHEDS LIGHT ON LIV OF ENSLAVED GAY MEN ‘THE PROPHETS’
Homosexualy is at least as old as the Old Ttament, but outsi of a handful of scholarly reads that explore homosexualy ("A Dired Past, " "Intimate Matters" and "Zami: A New Spellg of my Name, " among others), the overall body of work sheddg light on Black queer life is snt. " Maggie, a fellow slave, wet nurse and ok, directly tak part the gay uple’s rebelln. Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Bt-sellg BooklistPl Halifax, the plantatn owner, is unaware of the homosexual men until he attempts to have them produce children.
Addg another layer of supprsn to Black queer life, Timothy, a closeted gay man and heir of Halifax clan, be attracted to Isaiah and Samuel. An abolnist sympathizer, Timothy believ his nnectn to the gay uple uld offer them liberatn: “Together we n be set ee, ” Timothy surmis.
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.
THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
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. "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.