“I was a homo thug, now I'm just homo”: Gay gang members’ desistance and persistence

• Date: 01 May 2020
• Author: Vanessa R. Panfil
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12240
• Published date: 01 May 2020

Received: 11 May 2017 Revised: 31 August 2019 Accepted: 3 September 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9125.12240

ARTICLE

“I was a homo thug, now I’m just homo”: Gay gang

members’ desistance and persistence*

Vanessa R. Panfil

Department of Sociology and Criminal

Justice, Old Dominion University

Correspondence

Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice,

OldDominion, University, 4401 Hampton

Blvd.,Batten Hall 6042, Norfolk, VA 23529.

Email:vpanfil@odu.edu

Fundinginformation

Initiativesfor Women, Universityat Albany;

RacialDemocracy, Crime, and Justice Network

∗Isincerely thank the Racial Democracy,

Crime, and Justice Network’sSummer

ResearchInstitute for providing resources

that aided me in the writing of this article. I

alsot hank ValerieJenness, Jody Miller, Dana

Peterson,and Lois Presser for their helpful

commentson earlier drafts. Janet Laur itsen and

fouranonymous reviewers at Criminology sim-

ilarlyprovided constructive comments. Data

collectionwas partially funded by the Univer-

sityat Albany’s Initiatives for Women.Direct

correspondence to VanessaR. Panfil, Depart-

mentof Sociology and Cr iminal Justice, Old

DominionUniversity, 4401 Hampton Blvd.,

BattenHall 6042, Norfolk, VA 23529 (e-mail:

vpanfil@odu.edu).

Abstract

In a growing body of research, the methods of and moti-

vations for gang desistance are being investigated, spurred

in part by concerns about the long-term negative effects

of gang membership. Despite recent calls for scholarship

that is more inclusive of LGBTQ populations and attentive

to issues of sexual identity, however, most gang research

remains overwhelmingly heteronormative. In this study, I

use in-depth interviews with 48 self-identified gay male

gang members to explore how and why they have desisted

from or persisted in their gangs, as well as explore how

desistance or persistence has affected their self-perceptions,

lives, and activities. Because not all have left their gangs,

I examine the markers in young men’s narratives that sig-

nal shifts away from—but sometimes also toward—their

gangs, as well as their zigzagging paths out of gang involve-

ment. As gang structure and composition hold impor-

tance for their members’ experiences, I use a compara-

tive approach by contrasting men in predominantly straight

gangs with those in gay gangs. Set within a heterosexist

cultural context, the structure of the gang combines with

individual shifts in identity to encourage pathways out of

straight gangs and pathways into continued involvement

with gay gangs.

KEYWORDS

desistance, gangs, in-depth interviews, LGBTQ populations

Criminology. 2020;58:255–279. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crim © 2020 American Society of Criminology 255

256 PANFIL

Gang membership provides a risky context for young people: one characterized by increased violent

and criminal involvement, as well as by both short- and long-term negative outcomes that can persist

into adulthood, including lower educational attainment, unstable employment, and arrest (e.g., Krohn,

Ward, Thornberry, Lizotte, & Chu, 2011). In describing the challenges associated with leaving gangs,

a former member suggested that gang involvement “becomes your whole identity” (Bolden, 2013,

p. 484). Coinciding with this kind of proclamation, misinformation and sensationalized portrayals of

gang life abound, such as inaccurate cultural narratives that suggest “when you’rein, you’re in for life”

(Bolden, 2013; Carson, Peterson, & Esbensen, 2013).

Nevertheless, most gang members can and do leave their gangs. The findings from a growing body

of research empirically reveal factors that facilitate leavinggangs and theorize desist ance as a process.

The scholars conducting these studies rely on diverse samples of gang members in equally diverse

contexts: from across the United States and globally, males and females, and adults and adolescents.

These studies also provide valuable insights into gang recruitment and retention processes, which can

inhibit desistance. One overarching goal of research on desistance from and persistence in gangs is to

develop effective intervention strategies that result in gang members leaving the gang.

Just as it is understandable as to why young people might want to stay in gangs (e.g., because gangs

can offer them protection, financial support, and a sense of belonging), it is also understandable why

they might want to leave their gangs (e.g., when negative experiences like violent victimization occur

in connection with gang involvement). What is less clear, however, is how dynamics of desistance

operate for gay gang members, a population heretofore invisible in the gang desistance literature and

a subpopulation of gang members who report particularly familial relationships with other gay gang

members. These oversights are especially revealing because, despite many advances toward LGBTQ

equality in the twenty-first century, young queer people face much higher rates of violence than their

heterosexual peers, as well as risks of familial and societal rejection as a result of homophobia (Kosciw,

Greytak, Palmer, & Boesen, 2014; Meyer, 2015). In the face of stigma, and especially when the most

supportive group in your life is a youth street gang, are there reasons to leave? If so, in what ways

are the motivations for gay gang members to leave gangs similar to or dissimilar from their nongay

counterparts?

In this article, I focus on why and how a sample of gay male gang members have desisted from or

persisted in their gangs, as well as on how desistance or persistence has affected their self-perceptions,

lives, and activities. Designations such as “desistance” and “persistence” are not as clear cut as they

may seem, as young people can take two steps forwardin leaving the gang and one step back into gang

involvement,zigzagging their way in and out of their street families. Similar to other work on desistance

from offending, in this analysis, I treat leaving the gang as a process, influenced by factors such as

active decisions about one’s future and shifts in personal identity, counterbalanced by obligations or

affections that still exist in the gang; such ties are especially relevant in gay gangs. Instead of limiting

my discussion to men who have definitivelydesisted, I explore the markers in young men’s narratives

that signal shifts toward or away from their gangs: how desistance and persistence are accomplished,

signified, and storied. To do so, I analyze in-depth, semistructured interviews with 48 self-identified

gay or bisexual male gang members, in which we discussed their gang experiences and their various

identities.

The findings from this work expand and challenge the field in significant ways, in part by taking

up several calls issued by scholars; the most obvious of which is to understand mechanisms of

desistance, in particular, “the gang desistance process” (Melde & Esbensen, 2011, p. 539). Second,

as a result of these findings, I invite gang scholars to move beyond static assumptions of heterosexual

hypermasculinity in considering how gay or bisexual identity shapes factors in desistance. This is

especially relevant because of a long history of gang research in which little diversity in terms of