25. Gays in Prison

Gays in Prison is the continuation in a series of hubs in which I discuss my life of rebellion, dabbling in the Occult, drugs, crime and prison to life-changing conversion through Jesus Christ. Click here to read it from the beginning. In this hub, I will discuss homosexuality in prison.

I have never seen homosexuality so prevalent as when I was in prison. You hear stories and see movies about men getting raped in prison; but they have a saying in prison that there is no need to take it when so many people are willing to give it away. When rape does occur, it is usually for other reasons. For instance, in some prisons snitches get beat up and raped.

The first time I encountered homosexuality in prison is when I was in Santa Rita County Jail on pretrial sentencing. There was this Mexican guy which had a picture of a shirtless, buff male model on the door of his cell. Of course, it was on the inside of his door; but every time his door was popped open for chow or pod time, the picture was exposed. Usually, guys have pictures of semi-naked or naked women on their door; so I thought, why in the world does this guy have a picture of some buff young dude on his door? Is that his aspiration for developing a muscular physique? I was so naïve.

Then it turned out that the gay guy was attracted to my celly (cellmate). My celly was terrified of him. The gay guy was doing everything in his power to move in with my celly. My celly once said, “X-Con, whatever you do, do not move out of this cell. I do not want that guy in here.” However, I eventually moved out because my celly was getting on my nerves; and guess who my celly got as a new cellmate? The gay guy! What happened next, I don’t know.

When I was in Lompoc federal prison, the homosexuals ran together almost like a gang. They even had a shot caller (gang leader). Although, people made fun of him behind his back and called him the shot swallower.

I came across some really flaming homosexuals in prison. The shot caller of the gay car (group) was a cross-dresser on the street. He would even go on gay marches in San Francisco dressed as a woman. He had a picture of himself in one such march hanging up in his locker. He was really proud of that.

Many homosexuals in prison act really feminine. Some of them try very hard to look like women. They grow their hair out and speak in a feminine tone of voice. They shake their hips when they walk. They even adopt female names. Nevertheless, there are those that hide their homosexuality.

I am reminded of this heavily built and tattooed white guy. He was a skinhead. He had tattoos on his head, neck and arms. I was walking past the barber shop one day and noticed him talking to the barber out front, who was a known homosexual. I wasn’t trying to listen in on their conversation; but I overheard some of it, anyway. The white guy asked the homosexual, “You mean to tell me that you would give me fillacio job right now (not exactly in those words)?” The gay guy answered, “Yeah”. About three minutes later I passed by the barber shop again, only to notice the two of them gone. I could only speculate what happened next.

There were gay couples in Lompoc federal prison. However, it was hard for them to maintain a sexual relationship because we lived in dorms; and having sex with another inmate is against the rules. If they got caught having sex, they would go to the hole (solitary confinement). Sometimes, that happened. Supposedly, they would sneak off together to the shower stall in the bathroom at night, or find some kind of secluded corner somewhere to quickly fulfill their sexual urges. There were plenty of stories about such instances.

Being that homosexuality is discouraged in prison, the rate of unprotected sex is higher. Maybe that explains why the AIDS rate is higher as well. During my orientation upon entering federal prison, my orientation class and I were told by the prison psychologist that the AIDS rate is up to ten times higher. However, someone once explained to me that gays use the fingers of rubber gloves as condoms. That would be kind of a tight fit, if you ask me. Not to mention, rubber gloves are not designed to protect people against STDs and AIDS. The moral of the story is, stay away from homosexuality in prison, even if you are gay.

Some homosexuals see prison as an opportunity for exploiting themselves for money. That is, they prostitute themselves. Otherwise, they find some partner that can provide for them. They will have a couple pairs of new tennis shoes, a locker full of food, new clothes, etc (there really isn’t all that much to be gained in prison).

I have even heard of inmates who live straight lives on the street, with families, who prostitute themselves only while they’re incarcerated (so they claim). They call it “prison gay”. They say that if it’s a hustle (for money) than it isn’t gay. Yeah, right!

Homosexuals are generally lowly regarded in prison. In some prisons, they are not even allowed to walk the yard. They get run out by other inmates. However, in Lompoc federal prison they had free reign. They would often have to put up with anti-gay rhetoric, though. Even in their presence. Oftentimes, other inmates in the dorm would speak out against homosexuality, with full knowledge that there were a few gays in the vicinity. I can’t remember of a time when such an insult led to a fight, though. Homosexuals were not fighting types; so they weren’t picked on to the extent that they would get beat up. In other words, they weren’t regarded as much of threat; just a nuisance.

Many inmates in the general population are disgusted by homosexuality. Some prison gangs don’t even allow their members to talk to homosexuals. If they do, they will get violated (punished) for it.

Homosexuality is quite prevalent in prison. The AIDS rate is higher in prison, as well. Therefore, people should stay away from homosexuality in prison (or in general, in my opinion). Some prisoners are open about their homosexuality; others are in the closet about it. Then, there are those that look at it as an opportunity to make a profit. However, homosexuals are disregarded and disrespected by the majority of prison inmates. In my next hub, I will describe what it's like being Christian in prison. Click on the link below to read it.

26. Prison Christians