DannyBoyinExile

When you’re a child, you make important decisions about your life, and what sort of person you want to become. Some little boys decide they want to be firefighters, doctors, astronauts, or lawyers. Others decide to be gangsters or drug dealers. And, of course, some little boys decide that what they’d really like to be is a girl!
It’s a fact of life that there are many people who are… other than heterosexual – and it’s no different in TDCJ. There are several acronyms to describe them (LGBTQ, etc.) but I find it simpler to just call them WTFs. (just kidding) It’s not up to me to condemn them (or even condone them), so I try to show them the same respect that I’d show anyone else. (Who they smooch on in the shower is their own business!) (As long as it’s not me!)
This policy (of respecting them, I mean, not smooching in the shower!) was put to the test, just the other day. I was at work in the laundry, sorting and folding clothes, when I was informed that I had a new coworker: Loco. (Names have been changed, to protect the guilty) (But I don’t call him Loco for nothing!) I could see right away that he was… kinda funny. I could also see right away that it’s not always easy to be that kind of person in TDCJ.
I mean, the entire laundry was looking at him like he just arrived from outer space – and there were quite a few catcalls. Some guys openly shunned him, and didn’t want anything to do with him. Others tolerated him, but kept him at a distance. And some guys were instantly attracted to him, and gave him the princess treatment.
I decided that I wouldn’t take part in shunning him (or stalking him!), because it’s not in my nature to be mean to anyone. So I treated him like a regular person – which he is, of course. I talked and joked with him, the same as anybody else, I included him in our group conversations, and I never made him feel uncomfortable when he sat beside me on the bench. (As opposed to some people who would get up and MOVE before they sat next to him!)
As for the administration, they do make an attempt to keep an eye on these types of inmates (WTFs, I mean, not guys on the folding table), to make sure they aren’t being bullied, threatened, or coerced. They’re almost like an endangered species, with the extra protection they get, so it’s in NOBODY’S best interests to bully them.
He clearly wasn’t discriminated against by the people who run the laundry: after only two days on the folding table, his job was changed to a presser. (He actually preps the clothes for the real pressers, so I gave him a new title: Shirt Squeezer!)
I, meanwhile, have been languishing on the folding table for months without a job change. (No princess treatment for me!) But I’m not hating on the guy – he can squeeze all the shirts he wants.
In fact, the experience made me feel a little sympathy for people like that. Many people don’t like homosexuals, and some openly HATE them. To many people, they are truly second-class citizens, who don’t deserve the same respect or privileges as the rest of us. And most people don’t want to interact with them at all, lest other people look at them as if they’re homosexuals, too.
So I understand the special treatment they’re given (by the administration, I mean, not the stalkers), and I don’t resent them for it. Somebody has to squeeze the shirts, and somebody has to fold the socks. Instead of complaining about who gets to do what, or who deserves it more, we might as well just work together and get it done. Cooperation will always get things done, but hatred never will. So says DannyBoy.