William A. Percy Foundation for Social and Historical Studies

no. 1

UpdateFall 2019 INSIDE THIS ISSUE — Charley Shively wright, and author – the two men have been vocal free speech ad- • Palm Springs and Boston Prize for Gay vocates, with Jim having Residential Fellowships served as director of the Liberation and Boston Coalition for • Update on our Analysis of Freedom of Expression. Prisoner Data Activism Robert Chatelle, Harvard ’63, is a com- • Insiders’ Bookstore Project In January, the William A. Percy puter programmer and Bob Chatelle • New Research Project on Foundation announced Bob Chatelle writer who has served on and Jim D’Entremont as recipients of the executive board of the National Prison Sex the the first annual Writers Union • Questions and Answers Charley Shively (UAW Local 1981 Prize for Gay Lib- / AFL-CIO). As about Kids and Sex: What Does eration. chairperson of the Science Say? Through their union’s Political journalism and Issues Commit- organizing, Bob tee, he dealt with Baran, the first daycare worker wrong- and Jim – founders a range of free fully imprisoned in the nationwide of the National expression issues moral panic of the 1980s. He and/or Center for Reason pertinent to pub- his partner James D’Entremont visited and Justice (NCRJ) lishing and higher Baran at the Massachusetts Treatment – have brought education. In Center weekly for seven years until attention to falsely 1990, he became a 2006, when Baran was released after accused people founding mem- winning his bid for a new trial. During whose trials were Charley Shively as a graduate student ber of the Boston that time, Bob Chatelle founded the in American history the early 1960s often tinged by ho- Coalition for National Center for Reason and Justice mophobia. In a number of prominent Freedom of Expression (BCFE). An (NCRJ). The non-profit organization cases, their work has helped win the affiliate of the National Campaign for was at that time chiefly dedicated to release and exoneration of the unjustly Freedom of Expression, the BCFE was reversing false convictions, including convicted. In the late 1990s, both men a response by artists, writers, and arts many carrying a taint of homophobia. became advocates for Bernard Baran, administrators to predominantly ho- The organization has helped secure the first daycare worker wrongfully mophobic, right-wing attacks on artists the release of a number of wrongfully imprisoned in the nationwide mor- and cultural institutions. In 1997, Bob convicted individuals, and has provid- al panic in the 1980s over “Satanic Chatelle became active on behalf of ed advocacy and support for Abuse,” with Baran’s conviction finally persons falsely accused and con- others who remain in pris- being vacated by the Massachusetts victed of “Satanic Ritual Abuse,” on, both the unjustly in- Appeals Court in 2009. particularly caregivers convict- carcerated innocent and In addition, Bob has been active in ed of crimes against children. the overpunished guilty. union organizing, and together with Beginning in 1998, he became Jim Mr. Chatelle his partner Jim – journalist, play- the principal advocate for Bernard D’Entremont continues to serve as the NCRJ’s executive director, supporters of Paul Shanley, a former and is currently an active member of priest wrongfully convicted of child Who was Boston’s Sex Offender Policy Reform rape in a trial whose flaws and biases Initiative (SOPRI). are documented in his coverage of the Charley Shively? James D’Entremont is a journal- case for The Guide. v ist, fiction writer, and playwright. He As scholar and activist, poet and is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer muse, Charley Shively (1937-2017) (Tunisia 1967-’69) and formerly the was a major figure of the post-Stone- artistic director of Boston’s Harlequin New Research wall gay liberation movement. Theatre Company. Through the 1990s, Growing up dirt-poor in rural Ohio, he was a spokesperson for the Boston Project on Charley ended up earning a PhD Coalition for Freedom of Expression, in history at Harvard, and spent his and eventually its executive director. Prison Sex career teaching first at Boston State From 1991 to 2001, he organized University and later at the University annual Banned Books Week reading Utilizing our list of prisoner contacts of Massachusetts, Boston. vigils featuring banned literary works from the Insiders’ Bookstore, the Wil- Starting in the early 1970s, Char- read aloud by a succession of readers liam A. Percy Foundation is soliciting ley was a guiding light behind the around the clock. From 1996 to 2008, qualitative information from inmates influential gay liberation broadsheet he wrote news articles, criticism, and (both gay and straight) who receive Fag Rag. Over the course of lead features as a staff writer for The books concerning their observation of two books on poet Guide, a Boston-based, internationally and attitudes toward gay sex in prison. Walt Whitman, circulated liberationist LGBT month- GLBT persons are disproportionately Shively exca- ly. His articles on anti-gay censorship incarcerated in the U.S.: the National vated the erot- and the American Christian Right Inmate Survey estimates that 9.3% of ically suffused have also appeared in Index on Censor- males in prison are gay or bi-sexual, friendships ship, the Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and and 42.1% of female prisoners. Over- Whitman Charley Bisexual Identity, and other publica- all, sexual minorities are three times had with Shively tions. In 1998, he joined his partner more likely to be incarcerated than the working-class Robert Chatelle’s campaign to free general population. Participation in men and youths, camaraderie to the late Bernard Baran, a gay daycare underground economies of drugs and which America’s post-Civil War worker whose homophobia-ridden sex work, sting operations in public urbanization gave new scope and trial resulted in three concurrent life parks, HIV criminalization laws, and vitality, and in which Whitman sentences. He continues to be active famously descried solidarities that Artwork drawn by Texas inmate Billy Thomas in the National Center for Reason and in appreciation for reading materials from might redeem America’s violent Justice, the organization built around the Foundation’s Insiders’ Book Club. Thomas depicts the struggles faced by prisoners who birth-pangs and bind a young, di- the Baran case. Through the NCRJ, he try to express themselves erotically – and the verse nation now carrying a beacon has become one of the most steadfast problem of prison rape, exacerbated by prison onto the world stage. authorities’ ban on gay relationships As one who never forgot his roots, Charley grounded his sexual radicalism not only in his imme- diate identification with the down- trodden, but in his deep readings of history and theory, particularly 19th century anarchist thought. The Charley Shively Prize, which includes a $1,000 honorarium, will be awarded to someone who exemplifies in his or her scholarship and activism Charley’s intellectual mettle, radical savoir-faire, and incorruptible boldness. William A. Percy Foundation for Social and Historical Studies. v

2 William A. Percy Foundation Update • Fall 2019 discriminatory enforcement of sex of- fense laws all play their part in putting sexual and gender minorities at greater risk of entanglement with the criminal justice system. Lurid media portrayals of prison suggest an environment of hyper- masculinity in which gay men are especially vulnerable to brutal gang rapes and exploitation by larger and stronger inmates. However, over time, studies are fairly consistent in showing that only about 1-2% of male inmates Overall, sexual minorities are three times more likely to be incarcerated than the general population. admit ever being raped by other into solitary confinement for extended condoms were banned in 98% of their inmates. The Prison Rape Elimination periods, transferred to separate units prisons. Act of 2003 (PREA) does not seem to to break up the relationship, or even Prison officials in the US acknowl- have changed that rate much, but what see their parole denied based on this edge that voluntary gay sex is going it has accomplished is a crackdown disciplinary infraction. But despite on, but refuse to protect public health on all sex in prison, even when com- the risks and intensified surveillance, by allowing condoms or adopting pletely voluntary. Even before PREA, the human spirit finds a way: 67% of the more permissive policies of many correctional officers wrote far more over 1000 GLBT prisoners in the US foreign penal systems, including Can- disciplinary reports for consensual sex surveyed by Black & Pink (https:// ada’s. Our new study aims to refute the and “prostitution” than for suspected www.blackandpink.org/coming-out- contention that gay sex is “disruptive” rape. Crowded prisons offer minimal of-concrete-closets) say they have had to prison discipline and creates conflict privacy, and those caught may be sent consensual sex in prison, even though by providing information about inmate

William A. Percy Foundation Update • Fall 2019 3 attitudes toward the phenomenon, Public Library, Rancho Mirage Public renewal if more time is requested in which are mostly tolerant, as long Library, and College of the Desert writing for completion of the proj- as the sex is discreet. The success of Library can be supplemented by the ect. Send a CV and letter (up to three conjugal visitation programs (allowed library of the University of California pages) to Professor Thomas K. Hub- in only five states) in reducing prison at Riverside, which is an hour away by bard ([email protected]), describing the violence suggests that a more lenient bus. proposed project, its social science or regime toward gay sex might actually There are many libraries in the Los public policy implications, the extent improve prison discipline. Some evi- Angeles area (which is two to three of the work that has been done so far, dence from our surveys also indicates hours away by car, bus and train): ONE and a timetable for the project’s com- that voluntary gay sex in prison may National LGBT Archives at USC, the pletion. offer therapeutic benefit to sex offend- Williams Institute on Sexual Orien- Boston Residential Fellowship – ers whose orientations were previ- tation and Gender Identity Law and The William A. Percy Foundation is ously focused on minors or abuse of Public Policy at UCLA, and the Hu- pleased to offer a one-month residen- women. v man Sexuality Collection at California tial fellowship in Boston for scholars State University Northridge. at any stage of their career (Ph.D. The Palm Springs residential fel- dissertation writing, sabbatical sup- lowship is offered for qualified persons port, postdoctoral award, independent Palm Springs and who need a quiet congenial setting to scholar, or senior scholar levels), or for do writing on the topic priorities em- experienced journalists, filmmakers, Boston Residential phasized on the website of the William or activists. The fellowship consists of A. Percy Foundation (http://www. free residence in an elegant, historic Fellowships wapercyfoundation.org). Topics may South End townhouse apartment, fully be in any academic discipline, but spe- furnished with antiques and art. Free Palm Springs Residential Fellowship cial encouragement is given to subjects utilities, washer-dryer, fully equipped – The William A. Percy Foundation for that will contribute to the growing kitchen, and internet access are provid- Social and Historical Studies is pleased body of scholarship which questions ed. Unfortunately, the Foundation to offer a residential fellowship in Palm contemporary punitive approaches to cannot offer a travel stipend with this Springs, California, for scholars at sexual regulation by the state. award. The house is located on a quiet any stage of their career (Ph.D. dis- What can be learned from the ex- side street close to Massachusetts sertation writing, sabbatical support, perience of feminist, gay, transgender, Avenue and Washington Street, easy postdoctoral award, independent and other social change movements, walking distance to transit links. scholar, or senior scholar levels), or for in enacting public policy changes on There are many libraries in the experienced journalists, filmmakers, or a political level? What can be learned Boston area with significant collections activists. The fellowship consists of free from the example of diverse cultures, of interest to sexual researchers, most residence in an attractive disabled-ac- from a multiethnic and transnational significantly the Boston Athenaeum, cessible apartment next to a large pool perspective? which has a special LGBT section, and and garden behind a private house. Fellowship terms are flexible, from The poolside apartment available for visiting Free utilities, use of washer-dryer, two weeks to six months, with possible scholars as part of the Foundation’s Palm Springs Residential Fellowship one-car parking space, and internet access are provided, plus a $500-1,000 travel / research stipend. The house is located on a quiet street that is two blocks from mountain hiking trails, a shopping center, and a bus line going directly to the city’s LGBT Communi- ty Center and to gay restaurants and nightclubs. Palm Springs is the nation’s largest gay resort and retirement communi- ty, with an all-LGBT city council and a relaxed atmosphere. The beautiful mountain and desert scenery and warm climate are conducive to in- spired writing. Nearby Palm Springs

4 William A. Percy Foundation Update • Fall 2019 Harvard University’s research librar- social science or public policy impli- the etiology of both sex offending and ies, including the Countway Medical cations, the extent of the work that has other types of crime in adverse child- Library, the Houghton Library (for been done so far, and a timetable for hood experiences, the correlation of rare books and manuscript materials), the project’s completion. v child sexual abuse or precocity with and the Tozzer Library (in anthro- other adverse childhood experiences pology and ethnography). As well, (physical violence, verbal and psy- there is Northeastern University’s gay chological abuse, neglect, poverty), and lesbian collections (https://bit. Update on our the validity of the “abuser-to-abused” ly/2JwoboR). Several gay organizations hypothesis (which holds that feelings interested in our issues are headquar- Analysis of of powerlessness as a child victim turn tered in Boston, including the Gay into abusive behavior as an adult), and & Lesbian Review Worldwide, Black Prisoner Data the effects of self-esteem and impulse and Pink, and the National Center for control on both sexual and non-sexual Reason and Justice. Over the period 2015-2019, we have The Boston residential fellowship accumulated detailed survey responses Our preliminary is offered for qualified persons who from over 1,000 mostly male prison- report found that sex need a stimulating and well-connect- ers participating in the Foundation’s ed setting to do research and writing Insiders’ Bookstore Project. In 2016, offenders convicted of our statistician did a preliminary re- a same-sex offense port (http://www.wapercyfoundation. received substantially org/?page_id=75) based on over 500 surveys, with a focus on the first 11 of longer prison sentences 118 questions. This report examined than those convicted of basic demographic data, information a heterosexual crime. about the offense, type of trial and legal representation, and correlated offending. Much of this material will this information with prison sen- eventually make its way into peer-re- Boston’s South End neighborhood – location tences. Our data pool is not meant to viewed literature, but in the meantime of the Foundation’s Boston Residential be representative of all prisoners, as watch our website for interim reports Fellowship – is near the Boston Athenaeum and accessble to university libraries prisoners who order books tend to be as we find significant results. more educated than the prison pop- Our data will also reveal much on the topic priorities emphasized on ulation as a whole. However, it does about prison conditions, particularly the website of the William A. Percy have the advantage (for researchers) of time spent in solitary confinement and Foundation (http://www.wapercy- including a large number of gay and the exact strictures of that confine- foundation.org). Topics may be in any bi-sexual prisoners (a few transgender) ment. Does that confinement, whether academic discipline, but special en- and a high proportion of sex offenders. disciplinary or “protective,” dispro- couragement is given to subjects that Our preliminary report found that portionately impact sexual minorities will contribute to the growing body of sex offenders convicted of a same-sex and/or sex offenders? We are actively scholarship which questions contem- offense received substantially longer seeking student interns and scholar- porary punitive approaches to sexual prison sentences than those convicted ly collaborators to help us work on regulation by the state. What can be of a heterosexual crime. testing various hypotheses and cor- learned from the experience of femi- We have now completed our relations in this large data set, as well nist, gay, transgender, and other social collection of questionnaires and are as devising new follow-up surveys. change movements, in enacting public carefully checking and correcting the Most of the prisoners on our list have policy changes on a political level? data entry performed by a succession indicated a willingness to fill out more What can be learned from the example of student assistants over the years. surveys in gratitude to the Insiders’ of diverse cultures, from a multiethnic We expect before the end of 2019 to Bookstore Project. v and transnational perspective? post an updated statistical analysis of Fellowship terms are normally our prisoner data. This will confirm one month, but might be renewable with a larger data pool whether our in exceptional cases. Send a CV and initial finding in 2016 about disparate letter (up to three pages) to Professor sentencing effects is valid. It will also Thomas K. Hubbard ([email protected]), begin to address a number of other describing the proposed project, its disputed scholarly questions, including

William A. Percy Foundation Update • Fall 2019 5 high-quality material is a lifeline from the drudgery of their confinement. See (link) for some of their testimonials about what these books mean to them. Sometimes, it is just a matter of know- ing that someone on the outside cares. To keep this effort going, we need volunteers, funds (to pay for postage and packing materials), and donated books. We have benefited from estates, church drives, book dealers unload- ing excess stock, retiring professors who need to downsize, and ordinary people who see our book donation box outside and drop off a couple of Books organized at the Foundation’s Chico, paperbacks or National Geograph- California, office for shipment to prisoners, via ics they have finished. We especially the Insiders’ Book Club Insiders’ need dictionaries (#1 requested item by prisoners), textbooks in foreign Bookstore Project sonnel and financial resources make us languages, natural and social sciences, unable to enroll any new prisoners, but gay studies and literature, and popular The Insiders’ Bookstore Project has the demand is virtually infinite, and we genres like fantasy and science fiction. been operating since 2013, originally would like to be able to re-open enroll- A 30-pound box sent to us via Media based on a carload of academic books ment when resources allow. Mail costs less than $18. Our address: donated by Prof. William A. Percy of 1421 Park Ave., Suite 100, Chico, CA Boston. We have now expanded to a Some very well- 95928. Learn more at http://www. collection of several thousand books educated people are wapercyfoundation.org/?page_id=7 v housed in our office, located in an old storefront in Chico, California, and in prison, particularly overseen by our Office Manager Vanes- in the federal system, sa. In addition, an ex-prisoner sends but they find little of Q&A about Kids books out of a basement in Portland, Oregon, as does one from Maine. Over intellectual sustenance and Sex: What Does 1,000 long-term prisoners in both the in their meager prison federal system and multiple states have Science Say? qualified for enrollment by completing libraries. a detailed survey form, in return for Some very well-educated peo- The William A. Percy Foundation is which they receive shipments of free ple are in prison, particularly in the embarking on an ambitious project books that they order from our annual federal system, but they find little of to create an accessible and well-ad- catalogues. At this point, limited per- intellectual sustenance in their meager vertised website assisting parents and prison libraries. Other child development specialists in ac- prisoners just want a cessing the latest scientific knowledge few good novels by their concerning children’s sexual matura- favorite authors to help tion and perceived sexual dangers to them pass the time. children. Too often parents and poorly Still others are trying trained therapists may do damage by to compensate for the over-reacting or imputing pathology lack of post-secondary to common childhood behaviors or educational programs experimentation. What does the best in prison by ordering social science tell us about the po- college-level textbooks tential harms of either premature or in a range of academic suppressed sexual development? Packing books subjects. For all of these We have not yet formulated a for prisoners groups, having access to complete set of FAQs, but they would

6 William A. Percy Foundation Update • Fall 2019 surely include the following: At what their child shows absolutely no interest age is sex education first appropriate in sex? What is “consent” and how do for children? Should we be alarmed if we best train young people to request Who was William we catch a child engaging in sexual- and obtain it? How frequent is rape on ized play with another child, and how college campuses and how should we Alexander Percy? should we react? Is the age of puberty advise students heading off to college? historically stable and about the same Why are rates of teen STIs and preg- The William A. Percy Foundation for all children? At what age do ani- nancies so high in the US compared to for Social and Historical Studies mals start engaging in sex play? Does most other industrialized countries? is named after two “William A. excessive masturbation harm a child This project may take a year or Percys.” The older of the two was or indicate emotional problems? Is a more to complete. We actively seek William Alexander Percy (1885- child harmed by viewing adult-orient- collaborators with backgrounds in sex 1942) was the son of US Senator ed pornography? How should parents education, public health, and devel- LeRoy Percy, owner of the 20,000 respond if they suspect their child is opmental psychology to help us write acre Trail Lake becoming too involved with an adult short, accessible articles, backed by am- plantation near or another child who is several years ple scholarly references. Topics related Greenville, older? Are registered sex offenders to pre-adult sex are too often framed by Mississippi. living in the neighborhood a threat to emotion, moral judgment, or ideology, He matric- children’s safety? How frequent is child whether of the religious right or the ulated at molestation in the Catholic Church dominance-feminist left. Our goal is to Sewanee at the age of 14, William Alexander and other churches? In day care cen- provide balanced factual information Percy ters? At youth camps? At what age are and rational advice based on what sex- spent a year young people capable of making de- ual science actually shows concerning in Paris after graduation, and then cisions for themselves regarding their the prevalence and potential risks of earned a law degree from Harvard. sexual orientation, desires, and ac- pre-adult sexual behavior. v He served with Herbert Hoover tions? Should parents be concerned if on the Commission for Relief in Belgium in 1916-17, and was sub- sequently appointed by Hoover to contributions, whether it is summa- oversee relief Look at our rizing a couple of relevant articles you efforts during have come upon, or a proposal to write the devastat- Website! a new resource page on a topic we have ing Mississip- not yet covered. v pi Delta flood We’ve added a “News of 1927, an and Resources” col- experience re- umn to our website counted in his (http://www.waper- best-selling cyfoundation.org), memoir, Lan- containing a variety of terns on the new features such as Levee: Recollections of a Planter’s book reviews, guest Son (Knopf 1941). He published editorials, and links four volumes of poetry with Yale to significant news University Press, was the editor of and scholarly resources on the ground-breaking Yale Younger a variety of issues, including Transgen- Poets series, was a godfather to the der Wars and the Minor Child, Police Update is an occasional newsletter of the Southern Agrarian movement, and Harassment of Transgender Persons, a friend of the gay African-Amer- Sex Worker Rights, Mass Incarceration William A. Percy ican poet Langston Hughes and Foundation for Social & and Sexual Minorities, Prison Sex, Sex the Harlem Renaissance. A lover Education Battles, Availability of Con- Historical Studies 1421 Park Ave., of younger black men, Percy offers traception, HPV Vaccination, Whether Suite 100, Chico, California a fascinating window into the in- Illegal Images Promote Sex Offending. 95928 USA • +1-530-715-5125 tersections of race, class, religion, Much of this comes from work of our Wapercyfoundation.org age, and sexuality in the segregated student interns, but we appreciate your copyright © 2019 William A. Percy Foundation South of the 1920s and ’30s. v

William A. Percy Foundation Update • Fall 2019 7