The ABCs of Black HIV

Tonight on ABC News: "Out of Control: AIDS in Black America," a special one-hour documentary. It's a timely broadcast—just last week at AIDS 2006, numerous black leaders and President Clinton urgently spoke of the need to address escalating seroconversion rates within our community. Phill Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute was one of those interviewed. Somewhat disappointing is the preview clip that features a round table of black women and one or two mention the down-low. Hopefully this will be a solid documentary. Terry Moran is a top-notch reporter and Elizabeth Arledge is a brilliant producer.

· Red River Parish, Louisiana: A white school bus driver ordered nine black students to the back of the bus and designated the front seats for white children. "The nine black students were forced to share two seats," according to the Shreveport Times. "Meaning the older children had to hold the younger ones in their laps."

The parents filed a complaint with school authorities and the NAACP may request an investigation by the feds. School administrators report the bus driver has not yet returned to work, but, will confirm that she remains employed with the district. Red River Parish Elementary has about 900 students and is approximately 69 percent black.

· After a raucous debate in which Republicans claimed Democrats were "advancing the homosexual agenda", the California Assembly approved a bill to allow domestic partners to file joint state income tax returns. One assemblyman called two openly gay members of the house "sexual deviants"—but later apologized.

· Wal-Mart partners with gay businesses.

· The California Republican Party dumps their newly-hired, evangelical lobbyist—Ben Lopez, the chief spokesman for Rev. Lou Sheldon's anti-gay Traditional Values Coalition.

Comments

[ff]

>One assemblyman called two openly >gay members of the house "sexual >deviants"—but later apologized.

what a crock of s***....

the abc special should be interesting. looking forward to it.

thanks Rod

[R.O.]

About the ABC News special: thanks for the heads up, Rod.

[Mark]

In the context of talking about heterosexual transmission, the ABC website cites the stigma around homosexuality as a cause for men hiding their "sexual orientation" from their female partners. That calls to mind the image of a man whose sexual orientation is "Other" than straight, keeping that sexual orientation a secret, while having sex with women. If only the society would accept homosexuals with open arms, everything would be all right, is the implication. But what about the man who feels that he is no different in essence than any other man, but who happens to allow himself the pleasure of sex with other men. He doesn't consider himself a homosexual, but he knows that most people, if they come to hear about his sexual experiences with men, will consider him one. For him it would make no difference if the society were accepting of homosexuals - he is not a "homosexual" and doesn't want to be mistaken for one. What needs to happen is for society to stop categorizing people as homosexuals or bisexuals simply because they choose to have sex with their own sex on occasion. If homosexual sex were normalized, as it has been in other societies in the past, and if society did not freak out and reclassify people because of their homosexual experiences, then finally people might be able to talk openly about what they do without fear of being called out of their name.

[Bobby]

I don't know who the host of that show is (a white guy named Terry Moran), but it's obvious that he's unfamiliar with, frustrated with, and a bit hostile toward Black America. That's my personal assessment. Nevertheless, he clearly articulated what the rest of the world thinks of us.

First, he interviewed Jesse Jackson and basically embarrassed Jesse Jackson in front of the entire world: "You've positioned yourself as a leader in the black community. AIDS in Black America happened on your watch. Why have you said nothing about AIDS? Do you think it's because you were promiscuous yourself and that you'd therefore look like a hypocrite for telling people not to engage in behavior that you engaged in yourself?" Jesse GAGGED! The look on his face was PRICELESS as he stuttered through his non-answer.

Then, the host talked to a few black church leaders and they specifically called TD Jakes out (I mean, they took TD to TASK) for his absolute REFUSAL to discuss HIV and AIDS. The host said, "So the black community would rather die than to discuss sexuality and AIDS?" (He was prone to sweeping generalizations about blacks). One pastor cautioned white America to understand that "what happens to a segment of society eventually effects the whole of society." So their ideas that AIDS is now a "black problem" and can therefore be ignored will result in their destruction as well as ours.

But the most biting remarks came at the end when the host pulled no punches during his end-of-show summary. He put Black America on BLAST by saying something to the effect of (I'm paraphrasing): "Unless Black America gets some leadership, stops their immoral and dangerous sexual behavior, renounces their worship of misogyny and materialism, abandons their tradition of silence, and conquers their anti-homosexual bigotry, they're [emphasis mine] doomed." I choked on that statement because of who said it and how it was said: "They're--them; those monkeys over their ruining my society." It stung, but it also rang true.

Did anyone else watch it? If so, what did you think?

[TheRevKev]

MARK...

BROTHER MAN, YOU JUST ANSWERED YOUR OWN STATEMENT WITH BRILLIANCE!

IF ONLY SOCIETY WOULD GET RID OF ITS STIGMATIZATION OF HOMOSEXUAL SEX (NOT RELATIONSHIPS, BECAUSE THAT'S NOT THE PART THAT MAKES THEM ERUPT WITH SUCH FEAR), THEN THE STIGMA ON THE BROTHER WHO "JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE TO GIVE HIMSELF THE PLEASURE" OF THAT SEX WOULD BE LESS.

HOWEVER, I REFUSE, VEHEMENTLY I MIGHT ADD, TO ALLOW THE SUBJECT OF HOMOSEXUALITY, GAY SEX, SAME GENDER LOVING AFFECTION, TO CLOUD THE GREATER ISSUE OF FIDELITY!!!

IF PEOPLE ARE IN COMMITTED RELATIONSHIPS (AND YES IF YOUR PARTNER DOESN'T KNOW THAT YOU ARE TIPPING OUT, AND YOU ARE TALKING ALL THE RIGHT TALK, THEY THINK YOU ARE COMMITTED TO THEM!!!!), YOU DON'T GET TO USE THE EXCUSE OF YOUR OWN NEEDS TO GO OUT AND ENDANGER YOUR PARTNER, HOMOSEXUAL OR HETEROSEXUAL!

WE CAN'T JUST ACT LIKE WE ARE ANIMALS WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO CONTROL OUR DESIRES AND OUR URGES. IF YOU ARE WANT SEX OUTSIDE OF YOUR MARRIAGE, THEN YOU SHOULDN'T BE MARRIED. I KNOW THAT IT SOUNDS ANTIQUATED, BUT SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING ONCE ABOUT CAKE AND THE ABILITY TO EAT IT TOO!

I MEAN IF YOU AND YOUR WIFE, GIRLFRIEND, ET AL, HAVE AN OPEN AND INFORMED CONVERSATION ABOUT OPENNESS AND SWINGING AND DOING YOUR OWN THINGS, THEN THAT'S GROWN FOLKS BUSINESS. BUT I HAVE MET MANY A DUDE WHO CALLS HIMSELF "BISEXUAL" WHO INFORMS ME OF THAT, BUT HE NEVER BOTHERED TO INFORM HIS WIFE. IT'S JUST NOT LOVING.

AND THEN, IN SOME OF THESE CASES, TO NOT PROTECT ONE'S SELF BECAUSE TO DO SO WOULD BE TO ADMIT THAT YOU ARE HAVING THE VERY SEX THAT YOU are ALREADY HAVING, IS JUST INSIDIOUS.

I LOVE EVERY BLACK MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD ON THE PLANET AND I JUST WANT US TO BEGIN TO HAVE THE CONVERSATION THAT WILL SAVE OUR NATURAL LIVES!

IF A BROTHER IS ON THE DL, THEN BLESS YOU MAN. BUT PICS AND DICKS ONLINE WHILE YOU ARE LYING TO YOUR WIFE DOESN'T AUTOMATICALLY BUY MY SYMPATHY, BECAUSE SHE IS MY SISTER!!!

I DON'T WANT TO STIGMATIZE ANYONE BACK INTO ANY CLOSET. BUT IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR WIFE, YOUR LIFE AND YOUR LIVING, THEN YOU GOTTA DEAL WITH THE STIGMA AT LEAST IN YOUR HEAD, AND ACT ACCORDINGLY!

ONE OF THE BROTHERS SAID LAST NIGHT THAT HE KNEW THAT HE WAS POSITIVE AND DIDN'T SHARE IT FOR A YEAR! THAT'S SAD ON SO MANY LEVELS AND I OVERSTAND EACH ONE OF THEM: SHAME, FEAR, STIGMA, ISOLATION, DENIAL. EACH OF THESE HAS BECOME A BENCHMARK IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY. WE HAVE BEEN SHALLOWING SAME IN AMERICA SINCE THE MASTER CAME AND TOOK OUR DAUGHTERS INTO HIS BEDROOM AND TRIED TO TAKE OUR SONS IN THE BARN! I GET THAT!

BUT WE ARE A FREE PEOPLE NOW AND WE ARE FREE TO LOVE EACH OTHER AND FREE TO MAKE THE CONVERSATION HAPPEN AMONG OURSELVES! WE ARE OUR OWN SOCIETY AND WE ARE ASKING "SOCIETY" TO DO WHAT "WILL AND GRACE" and "THE L WORD" and "QUEER AS FOLK" AND SO MUCH VISIBILITY HAS ALREADY DONE FOR WHITE GAY CULTURE. IT HAS BEEN NORMALIZED TO THE POINT THAT THEIR NUMBERS ARE GOING DOWN EVERY YEAR IN HIV/AIDS AND THEY HAVE FOLDED UP THE QUILT.

YET, WE, BLACK FOLKS, STILL DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH E. LYNN HARRIS NOVELS (UNLESS THERE'S A PROMINENT DL CHARACTER), NO PRESENCE ON MAINSTREAM TV AND NO OUT AND PROUD ATHLETES, ACTORS OR SINGERS ON A NATIONAL PLATFORM (LOVE YOU MUCH BILLY PORTER!).

WE ARE WHAT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR AND WHEN WE GET THAT AND START MAKE THE SOCIETY WE DESIRE, WE WILL STOP LOOKING FOR OTHERS TO DO FOR US WHAT WE ARE not DOING FOR OURSELVES--LOVING EACH OTHER TO LIFE INSTEAD OF SHAMING EACH OTHER, TO DEATH!

Every Sunday I preach, for my life, and for the lives of each lesbian, gay man, transperson, heterosexual, Black, White, Latin and Biracial person in my congregation. I delve into the Bible and the true word and work of Jesus and still people struggle with that because we have SUCH SHAME around what we were TOLD about the Bible, that we barely and rarely, in large numbers, do the WORK TO SHOW OURSELVES APPROVED!

"I don't want to go to that Gay church" is as much of a choice as deciding not a wear a condom, in that each is a continue noninvestment in the Life of Self.

One day, and I pray that it is soon, we will stop listening to the voices in our heads and start giving some attention to The Voice in Our Heart.

GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE IS FOR EVERYONE and

IT'S MY SEASON AND I'M DUE!!!

Love,
Rev. Kevin E. Taylor
Unity Fellowship Church New Brunswick, NJ

[Bahain Heat]

I watched the program last night and my emotions ran from sad to angry to hopeful. The fact that our leaders (political & religious) could not directly make a committment to speak out about their own prejudice and hate against same gender loving people made me sad.

I was happy to see Jessie and Jakes trying to BS their way around the question about why no national black leaders from the church were making AIDS in America a priority. Ted Koppel or Peter Jennings wouldn't let them off that easy. Where was Ms. Oprah? hmmmm

I also agree with the previous post that it is unfortunate that many of us in the Black Gay community think it is normal to go on chat lines and the internet to have sex without knowing anything more than body parts. Dick, ass, waist size are more important topics of discussion than emotional or spritual connections. No preachin ...just saying. Now it is normal to meet someone on the phone or A4A and hook up. It use not to be normal...that use to be called a slut. The Raw thing is growing. Black straight women are so hungry for a black man with a job that they allow men to have sex with them without a condom. That is a whole other story.

We must take control again and stand as the proud warriors we once were. Our filmmakers, entertainers, politicians but most importantly our family and friends have to start understanding that we want to be loved too, however, we must clearly demonstrate that we love ourselves first.

The hope is that enough black people saw the show and will be called to action on an individual level. Talk to the kids and young adults, speak to our friends and relatives, support our own HIV organizations that are seriously trying to change the rise in the rates....and I am not talking about those that throw the best free parties either. There is alot of work to be done. At least ABC and Peter Jennings and his daughter used their power to put it out there as it is. Now it is up to the rest of us. Thanks Rod.