Comments on: Black Gay Men, AIDS, and No Community Support

By: charles

charles — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:46:39 +0000

Could it be possible to conclude that the reason that African American men choose to partner with other African American men is because of desire. I believe that it is unreasonable to conclude from “survey” that these gay men “settle” for others of their own race simply because of lack of opportunity. Consider the revolutionary concept, although widely accepted among other races, that African American’s simply prefer their own.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:06:17 +0000

I just ran across an article about a mother who “grew up in a conservative Christian world where it’s unacceptable for a black man to be gay” and wrote a book about her difficulties in coming to terms with her gay son.

This caught my attention:

Rashad, who recently graduated from Piper High School in Sunrise, Fla., says his own father won’t accept that he’s gay.

“At my graduation, he told me he’d give me $1,000 if I’d get a girl pregnant,” Rashad says. “He said he’d rather me go to prison for 20 years for drugs than be gay.”

The world needs a lot more women like Rashad’s mother. And somehow we need to find a way to reach those like his father.

By: a. mcewen

a. mcewen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:46:17 +0000

I agree with you Mark to a point. But if we see a part of the population not using condoms, there must be an examination of the reasons as to why.

It’s not as simple as you put it. If it were, this would be a perfect world.

By: Mark F.

Mark F. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:33:43 +0000

Well, preventing AIDS is not rocket science. Either abstain from anal sex OR use condoms every time. It’s a pretty simple, 99% effective solution for gay and bisexual men — black, white or whatever.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:35:00 +0000

Alvin,

Thank you for sharing your perspective on this article. I too found the article interesting in that while I knew that HIV rates were higher among African-American gay men, I had not considered ‘dating pool’ as a factor.

Whatever the reason, we do have to find some solutions. And I agree with you that these solutions need to address men (and women) before they become infected.

By: AJD

AJD — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:15:35 +0000

I think the closet/downlow and its greater prevalence among black gay men than among white gay men does a lot to feed the perception that black men are riskier as sexual partners. Not that I buy into that perception personally, but that seems to be where a lot of it comes from.