On the "Lesbian Prison Marriage" Incident
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I'm surprised this didn't get more coverage in the gayosphere:
According to a statement released by the prison: "Staff observed and did not intervene. It is highly inappropriate to correctional setting[s] because it implies sexual relations, which are illegal in prison."
My guess, after reading the report, is that the disciplinary actions were the result, not of allowing a "lesbian wedding" per se, but rather because several security protocols were breached in the process. Most notably, the ceremony took place in the prison's "Close Management Unit" -- solitary confinement. Hardly a zone where one would expect a festive congregation of inmates to be casually sanctioned.
On the other hand:
Incidentally,
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Not entirely related, but advocates for gay marriage should always keep in their quivers the arrow of Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987), in which the Supreme Court ruled that (heterosexual) prison inmates, even those sentenced to life without parole, have a fundamental right to marry -- even though there is no plausible scenario in which they could procreate (other than, I suppose, joint pardons). That case is among the easiest ways to pierce the bigoted gobbledygook that marriage is "only about procreation."
On St. Patrick's Day, corrections officers allowed two female inmates at Lowell Correctional Facility to be joined in a wedding ceremony, prison officials said today. Eight officers were disciplined in the incident. Six were suspended, one resigned and another was fired.The internal investigation report is available at The Smoking Gun.
According to an investigation report, the room was decorated with state paper towels and makeshift pink bows made from inmate request forms. Figures of two women sat atop a wedding cake surrounded by cards and endearments. Wearing a veil clipped to her hair and holding a bouquet of flowers, one of the women was escorted down a set of stairs to the ceremony while another inmate sang. An inmate officiated the ceremony which was described as "very elaborate." The couple was not allowed to kiss.
According to a statement released by the prison: "Staff observed and did not intervene. It is highly inappropriate to correctional setting[s] because it implies sexual relations, which are illegal in prison."
My guess, after reading the report, is that the disciplinary actions were the result, not of allowing a "lesbian wedding" per se, but rather because several security protocols were breached in the process. Most notably, the ceremony took place in the prison's "Close Management Unit" -- solitary confinement. Hardly a zone where one would expect a festive congregation of inmates to be casually sanctioned.
On the other hand:
Sgt. Jennifer Thomas, who resigned over the incident, told investigators that imprisoned "males do this all the time and homosexuality was going to happen."Of course, male-on-male prison rape is not "homosexuality" any more than man-on-girl molestation is "heterosexuality." Rape is about power, not sex. The frequency of truly romantically inspired gay weddings in male prisons, meanwhile, is something about which I have no insight.
Incidentally,
The couple was split up by sending one to another institution.How rehabilitative.
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Not entirely related, but advocates for gay marriage should always keep in their quivers the arrow of Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987), in which the Supreme Court ruled that (heterosexual) prison inmates, even those sentenced to life without parole, have a fundamental right to marry -- even though there is no plausible scenario in which they could procreate (other than, I suppose, joint pardons). That case is among the easiest ways to pierce the bigoted gobbledygook that marriage is "only about procreation."
Posted by Kip on
30 October 2007
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