Eight members of the gay latin thugs Goonies street gang are being held in jail after an anti-gay assault in the Bronx. Some of them told investigators they were victims. In the case of one member, he was forced to watch as gang members raped his older boyfriend and sodomized him with a miniature baseball bat.
According to a 2011 report by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, approximately 9 million people in the United States identify as gay. However, it is difficult to estimate the number of openly gay gang members because most do not come out publicly. Manuel, for example, took several years before admitting he was gay. After serving two years in the Chino Institution for Men on drug charges, he began engaging in homosexual activities behind bars.
The gay latin thugs gang’s members had strong emotional ties to each other. They often questioned what it means to be a man. They also often preferred to partner with “masculine” men. Sometimes, they would insult the femininity of other gay men. However, this is not the only way gay gang members expressed themselves.
In this documentary, a gay Latino gang member opens up about his experience of being a gang member. The film was made over 10 years and features one-on-one interviews with gang members. Dinco spoke to a reporter about the film’s making and the importance of understanding the Latino gay gang culture.
ALSO READ: car accident attorney los angeles cz.law
