Locked Up In La La Land, Prisoners To Prove They Are Gay

<p>The official GAY wing of L.A. County Jail known K6G is evidently so fabulous that straight inmates want in to. This notoriously rough prison set up the special unit in response to a 1985 ACLU lawsuit aimed to protect GBT (gay, bi, trans) prisoners from the general population.</p> <p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4616313511.png" width="461" height="252" alt="" title=""/></p> <p></p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>LA Weekly made a short documentary about life inside K6G when they were shown around by Dave Williams aka Yah Yah a transgender inmate known for her performing impromptu fashion shows in her dorm. The residents of the wing are a creative bunch and turn their bedsheets into halter-top baby doll dresses with matching white Cinderalla glovesand their jail uniforms in to tie-dyed hot pants. Yah Yah is the Wing’s elected “House Mouth,” which is sort of the prison equivalent to a mother superior. </p><p></p><p>She runs the show in K6G. Despite being incarcerated, she has a surprisingly upbeat attitude about life behind bars, which she tries to pass on to her fellow inmates. 'We make up songs,' she explains. 'In this dorm, we have what is called the "Word of the Day." If I say the word of the day, the whole dorm will say, ‘Yeeeeeah!'' </p><p> </p><p>The sense of community there is so strong that it isn’t uncommon for people to re-offend once they’re released to be back with their chosen family, and in fact weddings are fairly common among inmates. They are given a great deal more freedom than the general prison population to express as a community. As one inmate describes, “You’re allowed to be with whomever you want to, talk to whomever you want and do whatever you want to, basically, as long as you do it in a respectable way.”</p><p></p><p>Straight inmates fake being gay to live in the less menacing Gay Wing so that they can escape gang violence, but also to gain access to the dorm to have sex with gay prisoners. However Prison Officers use a gaydar test to keep the straight guys out. One way they try and weed out the fakers is by quizzing them on their favorite gay bars. “Where do you hang out?” “Describe what it looks like inside.” “What’s the cover charge?”. </p><p></p><p>Personally we think there is cause enough to let them in if they are just damn cute!</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.thegayuk.com/RogerWalker-Dack">by Roger Walker-Dack</a></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p>