In or about April 12, 2016 I
was working as co-editor of the
WRITE OR DIE Zine Project, which
is the vision of a fellow California
Condemned inmate that I had
dedicated myself to for 6 years
before THe Pulse Night Club Mass
Shooting in Florida happened on
that dreadful day which up to
that point was noted by many
as the worst Mass Shooting in
American History, it was infact,
the worst mass Shooting against
The LGBTQI+ Community for sure.

Up to that moment, I was hit
with my own realization that
while working and writing for
a predominantly Anti-Death Penalty
movement, in Zine format, I had
not written one word about my own
conditions as the only Black
Man on California Death Row
that identified openly as Gay.

Beyond the "crowded closet," there
is ZERO history of anyone gay
on California Death Row, now,
mind, you, near to 2013, there
is 2 transgender girls, yet,
one received re-assignment
surgery and was re-housed at
Chowchilla Prison for Women,
and a very courageous Latino
man that came out as Bi-sexual
around 2 year ago, soout
of 750+ people on Death Row
3 people identify to some degree
as LGBTQI+, 3 in 750 ?

San Quentin has a 4,000 plus
total inmate population, and
durring a reent San Quentin
Prison Media broadcast of
the "EAR Hustle" opdcast episode
titled "The Down Low," the Inmate
host of the podcast stated that
"No one at San Quentin is
openly Gay, no one."

So from the total history of Death
Row until now, I'm the only
person at San Quentin State
Prison that is Gay? Where
else in any society can we
find these kinds of numbers?,
and why?

I pounded my fist on the wall
to get the attention of the guy
in the cell nextdoor, who
at the time on April 12, 2016,
who was none other than the
creator of The WRITE OR DIE
Zines, WODZ.

While asking if I could theme
a WODZ issue LGBTQI+ in
the wake of the Pulse Night
Club Mass Shooting, he simply
said "get' em," and this
was the origins of how the
Azande Press Zine issues
evolved from that very first
LGBTQI+ perspective WODZ
issue titled "Poetry, Prose & Condz
vole 3". This, and all
Azande Press Issues are
available @:
South Chicago, ABC Zine Distro
P.O. Box 721, Homewood, IL. 60430

(Black Gay Zine Issues)
WODZ - Poetry, Prose & Condz vol 3
WODZ - I am Azande
Azande Press - Sound Mind Steamer
Azande Press - Sound Mind Streamer pt 2
Azande Press - Gaytekeepers
Azande Press - Lberated Facts
Azande Press - Direct MEssage
Azande Press - SIX
Azande Press - Parallelboi

After the release of the first WODZ
issue - PP&C vol 3, I realized that
I still had not dealt with the
reasons as to why I was the
only open gay black man in a
prison that housed over 4,000
inmates.

SO I took it upon myself to
retire from Death Penalty
related Journalism, and create
a zine issue that was totally
black perspective, historically,
educationally, and yes, personally.

My TOP-Down research method,
and inquiry findings concluded that,

a) All California Department of
Corrections policies have been
by way of Litigation Settlements
refocused, with all care and
attention to Department Responses
to PREA - Prison Rape Elimination
Act, claims are all designed
to primarily effect the
safety and security of inmates
that identify as Transgender,
which by default leaves
inmates that identify as gay,
or bi-sexual underserved
and vulnerable to abuses.

b) At San Quentin, the Lead
PREA Investigator presents
as Lesbian, as do the
Statewide PREA Coordinator.

c) The one, SQ mainline program
is also headed by a volunteer
that also presents as lesbian

with the combination of all
three of these observations
from within an All Male prison,
San Quentin State Prison officials
who are unaware of a 20 year
devision within the LGBTQI+
community where a growing
number of Programming agendas
have been controlled by a
contengency of Lesbians that
have mission to retaliate
against predominantly gay males
that notibelly exluded Lesbians,
and Trangender persons from the
early days of the Gay Liberation
movement, in an effort to
re-begin the Epic Story
within new curricullum that
refocuses the Genesis of the
movement to the 1969 Stonewall
Liberation, headed by Trans
women, that found a new
sisterhood with Lesbian groups,
that morph the new version
of Gay history to include
womens issues and causes
of the day, at the expense of
leaving Gays vulnerable to a
nonprotected position. It is
a factual point to make here
that most Black gay prisoners
that are so left out of the
family we call LGBTQI+, that
most don't know the source of
the eclusion, which is now
prepetrated primarily by Whites
that present as lesbians, that
have lobbied CDCR for
leadership positions for the
programming of inmates that
identify as LGBTQI+ .

This conduct has been so
observed in outter society
of said racial exclusion, that
Black LGBTQI+ persons had
to create "BLACK PRIDE"
recognitions and celebratins
durring the month of June
which is recognized as
"PRIDE MONTH" all over the
world, hence "Latino Pride"
and more.

For those of You who are in
denial, and reject this body
of work, please research the
recent official change to the
Rainbow Flag to include the
colors Black, and Brown at
the top, and inquire as to
why the community felt it
necessary for the official
inclusion of Black and
Latino people in LGBTQI+
flag demonstrations.

When CDCR, and San Quenitn
State Prison defer to the
contengency of Lesbians to
foster a curriculum designed
for the programming of inmates
that identify to some degree
as LGBTI+, by default,
CDDR exacerbates the ongoing
deprivation for the resources,
and funding, social justice,
historical, and educational
and spiritual and mental
health of the continumn, and
spectrum of all LGBTQI+
incarcerated Americans.
-F. Smith