tebkrg
03-29-2003, 06:36 AM
Gay Bars
© Steve Taylor 2000
We have all rejoiced at recent advances in the cause of equality for homosexuals. Despite apparent hatred and misunderstanding of our campaigns from members of the House of Lords and publications such as the Daily Mail, we do seem - perhaps slowly - to be moving in the right direction. Yet there is one section of 'our' community which is often neglected. As much as we like to forget about prisons and the people held within their walls, there are gay people in prison, and we do them gross injustice by ignoring their plight.
Some people like to make rough percentages about the number of gay people in our society. I have seen figures ranging from three to fifteen per-cent. I don't wish to add another figure to this estimate, but suffice to say that out of almost seventy-thousand inmates, there is a large number of gay men and women in our penal establishments. Of course, there are also 'jail gays'; those who suddenly adopt a taste for homosexual relationships due to the lack of the opposite sex, but who 'revert' to heterosexuality on release. Yet how often do you see articles on this subject in magazines and newspapers such as The Pink Paper or Gay Times?
First of all, we must remove our preconceptions of people in prison being evil, misfits and undeserving. People in prison have committed offences as minor as not paying a parking fine; as major as murder or rape. Yet this alone is not a valid reason for forgetting about them or for ignoring their existence as they are out of sight, and therefore out of mind.
Gay people on entering prison are confronted with a dilemma. Should I be open about my sexuality? Or should I jump back into the closet? Some - such as the archetypal effeminate male or masculine female - might not find this so easy. We are constantly told by our peers that our sexuality is not something to be ashamed of and so we shouldn't put up with abuse. But prison is far removed from the real world.
The gay man who chooses to be open about his sexuality is likely to be subjected to daily abuse and taunts of 'poof', 'faggot', or 'arse bandit', and quite possibly assault. He might end up in a segregation 'block' for his own safety. Even worse, rape can become a factor. He who chooses the closet option will likely become a recluse and not join in the activities of the majority, and will probably suffer abuse as a result of this. You see, prison is a cruel and hard place, where those who do not exactly fit in will not have an easy time.
The chronic overcrowding problem means that most inmates are forced to share a cell with another prisoner. It is not easy to hide the fact that you get regular letters from your partner. You will not want Boyz or Gay Times sent in as this is a blatant statement of your sexuality. As a result, the gay inmate becomes even further removed from his outside world that his heterosexual peers - magazines such as FHM and Esquire abound.
You might say that they deserve no sympathy because they have obviously done wrong to end up there in the first place. But don't we all make mistakes in our lives? Not many of us will end up behind bars, but it isn't an inconceivable thought for any of us.
I write to a gay man, in his mid-twenties, serving a life sentence at a prison in Kent. I'll call him Andy. He murdered his partner after suffering sustained physical and psychological abuse. We talk candidly about his crime, and he deeply regrets what he did. Yet had Andy been a woman, in a heterosexual relationship, chances are that he would not have received a life sentence - if a custodial sentence at all. Andy chooses to be open about his sexuality, and is very lucky in that he has experienced little homophobia. He will be in his thirties by the time he is released, and will not stay in the prison he is in today for the duration of his sentence - in time, he will be moved to lower security prisons. Will he be so lucky there?
Another young man I write to is more typical. 'Eddie' assaulted a man who called him a 'sausage-jockey' as he left a gay nightclub in the North of England. He is also open about his sexuality, and has so far suffered several assaults, verbal abuse, and was almost raped had it not been for a prison officer walking past by chance. He has another year to serve, and is unlikely to be moved. Eddie is now in a section of the prison called the VPU - the vulnerable prisoners unit. This is normally the abode of those convicted of sex offences who would likely be assaulted if they were integrated into the main prison populous. By association, Eddie is now labelled a 'nonce' - prison parlance for a sex offender.
I have also recently heard of a man who is serving five years for having consensual sex with a seventeen year old. As the current Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill is not retrospective, he will not be released when the age of consent comes down to sixteen, and will remain on the VPU at his prison.
There are organisations currently doing excellent work in supporting gay prisoners. 'Out-Side In' is one such organisation, which provides a pen-friend agency for gay inmates so they can write to someone on the outside. They have many more inmates on their books than they do volunteers, and so many gay inmates have to wait a considerable time before hearing from someone. The media are slowly making inroads into this area. Sky TV have recently commissioned a series to be shown in the summer, highlighting the plight of minorities in prisons. A post-graduate student at Brunel University is currently doing vital research into the sexual activity of prison inmates, hoping that this research might lead to policy change from the Prison Service.
But this alone is not good enough. Whilst we mustn't condone breaking the law, we also shouldn't forget the members of our community who are subjected to even more discrimination on a daily basis than we are. If we want things to change for these people, then we should write to our MP's, ask groups such as Stonewall to take up the cause, and if the time can be spared, write to a gay inmate ourselves.
Let's not do them the gross injustice of forgetting about them. The walls might hold their physical being, but they shouldn't suppress their feelings and sexuality.
http://www.stetay.com/essays/gay/gaybars.html
© Steve Taylor 2000
We have all rejoiced at recent advances in the cause of equality for homosexuals. Despite apparent hatred and misunderstanding of our campaigns from members of the House of Lords and publications such as the Daily Mail, we do seem - perhaps slowly - to be moving in the right direction. Yet there is one section of 'our' community which is often neglected. As much as we like to forget about prisons and the people held within their walls, there are gay people in prison, and we do them gross injustice by ignoring their plight.
Some people like to make rough percentages about the number of gay people in our society. I have seen figures ranging from three to fifteen per-cent. I don't wish to add another figure to this estimate, but suffice to say that out of almost seventy-thousand inmates, there is a large number of gay men and women in our penal establishments. Of course, there are also 'jail gays'; those who suddenly adopt a taste for homosexual relationships due to the lack of the opposite sex, but who 'revert' to heterosexuality on release. Yet how often do you see articles on this subject in magazines and newspapers such as The Pink Paper or Gay Times?
First of all, we must remove our preconceptions of people in prison being evil, misfits and undeserving. People in prison have committed offences as minor as not paying a parking fine; as major as murder or rape. Yet this alone is not a valid reason for forgetting about them or for ignoring their existence as they are out of sight, and therefore out of mind.
Gay people on entering prison are confronted with a dilemma. Should I be open about my sexuality? Or should I jump back into the closet? Some - such as the archetypal effeminate male or masculine female - might not find this so easy. We are constantly told by our peers that our sexuality is not something to be ashamed of and so we shouldn't put up with abuse. But prison is far removed from the real world.
The gay man who chooses to be open about his sexuality is likely to be subjected to daily abuse and taunts of 'poof', 'faggot', or 'arse bandit', and quite possibly assault. He might end up in a segregation 'block' for his own safety. Even worse, rape can become a factor. He who chooses the closet option will likely become a recluse and not join in the activities of the majority, and will probably suffer abuse as a result of this. You see, prison is a cruel and hard place, where those who do not exactly fit in will not have an easy time.
The chronic overcrowding problem means that most inmates are forced to share a cell with another prisoner. It is not easy to hide the fact that you get regular letters from your partner. You will not want Boyz or Gay Times sent in as this is a blatant statement of your sexuality. As a result, the gay inmate becomes even further removed from his outside world that his heterosexual peers - magazines such as FHM and Esquire abound.
You might say that they deserve no sympathy because they have obviously done wrong to end up there in the first place. But don't we all make mistakes in our lives? Not many of us will end up behind bars, but it isn't an inconceivable thought for any of us.
I write to a gay man, in his mid-twenties, serving a life sentence at a prison in Kent. I'll call him Andy. He murdered his partner after suffering sustained physical and psychological abuse. We talk candidly about his crime, and he deeply regrets what he did. Yet had Andy been a woman, in a heterosexual relationship, chances are that he would not have received a life sentence - if a custodial sentence at all. Andy chooses to be open about his sexuality, and is very lucky in that he has experienced little homophobia. He will be in his thirties by the time he is released, and will not stay in the prison he is in today for the duration of his sentence - in time, he will be moved to lower security prisons. Will he be so lucky there?
Another young man I write to is more typical. 'Eddie' assaulted a man who called him a 'sausage-jockey' as he left a gay nightclub in the North of England. He is also open about his sexuality, and has so far suffered several assaults, verbal abuse, and was almost raped had it not been for a prison officer walking past by chance. He has another year to serve, and is unlikely to be moved. Eddie is now in a section of the prison called the VPU - the vulnerable prisoners unit. This is normally the abode of those convicted of sex offences who would likely be assaulted if they were integrated into the main prison populous. By association, Eddie is now labelled a 'nonce' - prison parlance for a sex offender.
I have also recently heard of a man who is serving five years for having consensual sex with a seventeen year old. As the current Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill is not retrospective, he will not be released when the age of consent comes down to sixteen, and will remain on the VPU at his prison.
There are organisations currently doing excellent work in supporting gay prisoners. 'Out-Side In' is one such organisation, which provides a pen-friend agency for gay inmates so they can write to someone on the outside. They have many more inmates on their books than they do volunteers, and so many gay inmates have to wait a considerable time before hearing from someone. The media are slowly making inroads into this area. Sky TV have recently commissioned a series to be shown in the summer, highlighting the plight of minorities in prisons. A post-graduate student at Brunel University is currently doing vital research into the sexual activity of prison inmates, hoping that this research might lead to policy change from the Prison Service.
But this alone is not good enough. Whilst we mustn't condone breaking the law, we also shouldn't forget the members of our community who are subjected to even more discrimination on a daily basis than we are. If we want things to change for these people, then we should write to our MP's, ask groups such as Stonewall to take up the cause, and if the time can be spared, write to a gay inmate ourselves.
Let's not do them the gross injustice of forgetting about them. The walls might hold their physical being, but they shouldn't suppress their feelings and sexuality.
http://www.stetay.com/essays/gay/gaybars.html