Christopher Curtis, PlanetOut Network
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 / 03:52 PM
SUMMARY: According to the CDC, nearly half of black men who have sex with men have been infected with HIV — and a group of black leaders is demanding action.
According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half of African-American men who have sex with men have been infected with HIV — and a group of black leaders is demanding action from the community.
The Black AIDS Institute published an open letter on Wednesday, titled, "Nearly Half of Us May Already Be Infected. Who Gives a Damn?" It noted that in June the CDC published a study showing 46 percent of black homosexual and bisexual men surveyed in five major cities were already HIV-positive, an infection rate that was more than twice the infection rate among men of other races.
"Forty-six percent isn't a catastrophe. It's genocide!" the letter exclaimed. "To make matters worse, more than two-thirds of the HIV-infected black men in the study were unaware of their infection. That's right. Half of us may be infected and, of that half, two-thirds don't know it and so almost certainly aren't doing anything about it."
The open letter was signed by 51 leaders in the black gay community, including "Noah's Arc" creator and executive producer Patrik-Ian Polk, director/producer Paris Barclay and James Earl Hardy, author of the "B-Boy Blues" series.
"Where is the outrage?" the leaders asked. "As far as we can tell, following the CDC's announcement no black or gay media organizations ran front-page stories. No civil rights organization marched in the streets or called on policy makers to take action. No black celebrities sponsored relief concerts. There wasn't even a call to action issued by a black gay and lesbian organization!"
While the letter's writers admit charges of racism and homophobia could be made, they "may be beside the point." During a town hall meeting on the "state of black LGBT America" in Los Angeles in July, the leaders noted, "AIDS was not even on the agenda."
"We have to start a national public discourse among ourselves about this new AIDS reality. We must create a cultural shift to where knowing your HIV status is the norm, where those of us who are negative are committed to staying that way and where those of us who are positive refuse to engage in behavior that might expose our brothers to the virus," the leaders continued.
"We must all support each other in our collective and individual campaigns to end the epidemic. Nothing short of an all-out mobilization is acceptable. We must not allow any of the institutions or businesses that we support to fail to do their part in ending this epidemic. Most importantly, we must increase our visibility and demand our rightful places in our communities," the letter added.
"There is a role for all parties to play — government, the larger black community, the white LGBT community, our society as a whole — but we must be willing to hold ourselves accountable and responsible for our own survival. How can black gay and bisexual or same-gender-loving men ask others to respond if we continue to be so complacent in the face of our own genocide?" the letter concluded.
Keith Boykin, president of the National Black Justice Coalition and author of "Beyond the Down Low," also signed the letter. "It's time for us to take action. Not the president, not Congress — us," he told the PlanetOut Network.
Boykin admitted he was not sure how much the letter would accomplish. "I guess it depends on how widely this letter is circulated. I'm hoping it will help black gay men to take care of themselves."
Home |