Reviews of the week's new movies, interviews with filmmakers, and discussion. AirTalk February 7, Listen to story Download this story 8MB. AirTalk With Larry Mantle Weekdays 10 am - 12 pm Lively and in-depth discussions of city news, politics, science, entertainment, the arts, and more. Pretty much none of those stereotypes overlap. This obvious contradiction was one of the main reasons I was drawn to the subject of gay gang members.
The experience, which took place over the course of more than two years, allowed me to explore the tensions they felt between gang life and gay manhood. Some of the gang members were in gangs made up of primarily gay, lesbian or bisexual people. Most of these gangs were primarily male. Because even the idea of a gay man being in a gang flies in the face of conventional thought, the gang members I spoke with had to constantly resist or subvert a range of stereotypes and expectations.
How could I — a white, middle-class woman with no prior gang involvement — gain access to these gangs in the first place?
It helped that the initial group of men whom I spoke to knew me from years earlier, when we became friends at a drop-in center for LGBTQ youth. They vouched for me to their friends. But I also suspect that my own masculine presentation allowed them to feel more at ease; I speak directly, have very short hair and usually leave the house in plaid, slacks and Adidas shoes. While my race and gender did make for some awkward interactions some folks we encountered assumed I was a police officer or a business owner , with time I gained their trust, started getting introduced to more members and began to learn about how each type of gang presented its own set of challenges.
The gay men in straight gangs I spoke with knew precisely what was expected of them: be willing to fight with rival gangs, demonstrate toughness, date or have sex with women and be financially independent. Being effeminate was a nonstarter; they were all careful to present a uniformly masculine persona, lest they lose status and respect.
Likewise, coming out was a huge risk. Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate the group, began to step up their investigations in the late s. In and , 22 members were indicted on racketeering charges, including several who were allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders while confined in Pelican Bay.
Thirteen of the defendants pleaded guilty; the other cases are still ongoing. Two of the defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade.
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