Friday, September 12, 2008

Are Gay Black Men Damaging the Community?


Young black gay men, black women and white gay men in their 30s and 40s are much more likely to be newly infected with HIV than other groups in the United States, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Aggregate data from 2006 shows that 53 percent of the estimated 56,000 cases of new HIV infection in 2006 were among gay and bisexual men, and 46 percent of the infections occurred among blacks. Within the gay and bisexual group, young black men (13 to 29 years old ) were roughly twice as likely to get infected as young white and young Hispanic men. And among women, black women were almost 15 times more likely to get HIV than white women and almost four times more likely than Hispanic.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/09/12/hiv.blacks.gays/index.html

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am appauled by the level of ignorance that's so rampant in our community. A real effort is being waged to reinforce a monolithic world view of what a "real" black man, which is still tied to heterosexual prowess.

Anonymous said...

This is all to important for our community. I just spoke with my sister who met a brotha who just came out and said he was on the down-low for years with NFL players. He is also a preacher who just wanted to spread the word to sistas. He just lost his wife and children after a bitter divorce. Why can't we just be honest and wear a condom? There is the issue of cheating and equally a problem of not wearing protection. So, after taking out the brothas that are married, gay, down-low, in prison, just out of prison, what is left for sistas who want to love a brotha?