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Pieces of the puzzle I: Black, gay men and HIV
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Photo credit: Fisher Cott 911
Black, gay men have many obstacles in their path. They’re black. They’re gay. They have no support from the traditional institutes of belonging. The church persecutes them. Their family members don’t support them. Schools offer no protection from being teased and bullied. So when it comes to HIV and the fight against the spread of infection, black, gay men face yet another obstacle in their path to redemption. In a recent interview, Dr. Ron Simmons, president of Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. explained the two major internal conflicts that need to be confronted. They are self-concept and allegiance to your sexual networks.
Self-Concept
Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself. Self-concept is who you think you are. In terms of black, gay men the weakness is not in their self-esteem but in their self-concept. “You can feel good about yourself and still think you’re the lowest of the low. The drag queens do it all the time,” says Dr. Simmons. It’s about self-concept. If a boy is called sissy, punk, and other slurs from age of five to adulthood, he can be irreversibly damaged. When he grows into adulthood, he may be able to overcome some of those scars but the others don’t easily go away. The connection between poor self-concept and HIV is that when a man’s self-concept is damaged he may not feel that his life is worth saving. He may willingly engage in risky behavior or become careless about taking his meds because he hasn’t healed from the trauma of being on the outside of “traditional society”.
Be true to your sexual network
A sexual network is the group of people that one is typically attracted to when searching for a partner. For many black, gay men their sexual network is other black, gay men. The problem with that is that the prevalence of HIV is high in this sexual network. So when a gay man is engaging in unprotected sex within this network, the chances of contracting HIV are significantly higher. According to Dr. Simmons “it’s like playing Russian Roulette with three bullets instead of one.”
Black, gay men are only bonded by being black and gay. Nothing else. They do not feel an allegiance to one another. They don’t go out of their way to lift one another up. They simply have the same interests sexually and that is it. However, this is not helpful in the fight against AIDS. Dr. Simmons adds “you’re not only doing this to protect yourself. You’re doing it to protect your sexual network. We’re in this together.” Protection slows down the infection rate. It’s time for black, gay men to develop a sense of community.
For more information on Us Helping Us visit www.uhupil.org .
Next article: Pieces of the puzzle II: Black, heterosexual women and HIV
Get tested. Get care. Get a condom.
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