A look inside the gay wing of the L.A. Men’s Central Jail.
Watching this video has made me feel a whole lot better about all the illegal shit I have done in the past. My only hope is that if I ever do get caught, it happens in Los Angeles.
As anyone who has ever seen Orange is the New Black will tell you, there are many cultural enclaves in prison. Generally, people flock together based on race or other various bigoted identifiers. Its actually a shock to me that the gays haven’t previously banded together in solidarity, but I guess they were too busy being separated into the who’s who of the prison bitch system. All that has changed now, as The L.A. Men’s Central Jail has designated a special wing for gay inmates.
The embedded video tells you pretty much everything you need to know about how time is served (and I do mean served) in the gay wing.
READ MORE: What Does Homophobia Mean, Actually?
From impromptu drag shows to a sense of community, it has pretty much everything the gay community on the outside does, except freedom of course.
From the tales I have heard about the way gays are treated in prison, this change is long overdue. Many people might not think gay people deserve special treatment, but in places like prison, gays are specifically targeted for verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. While it’s true that nobody should get special treatment, it is also true that the penal system has a responsibility to protect its inmates.
For this, and several other reasons outlined in the video (tie-dye cotton skirts, anyone?) I totally support this, and hopefully by sharing the video will do my small part in making sure other programs are instituted in prisons around the nation.
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