Identifying Gays in Jail

Considering the hatred and violence that prison authorities have historically fostered against homosexuals, I am encouraged by the Los Angeles Sheriff Department’s efforts to protect the more vulnerable gay prisoners from the human predators that seem to flourish in its detention centers.

I am bothered, though, by the program’s implication that all gay inmates must be protected from all other inmates. The crude stereotypes used to identify gay men are laughable and do not get at the real problem, which is to identify and separate aggressive inmates, of whatever sexual orientation, from the nonviolent prison population.

What really worries me is that your reporter considers it “cruel” to be teased with the words “homosexual” or “bisexual.” If the target of such ribbing is a heterosexual, it is simply a mistake and not funny.

ODELL BERRY, Oakland