HIV/AIDS & African American community

    The African American community has endured a history filled with slavery, lynchings, unequal opportunities in education and discrimination within several spectrums, as well as other unjust situations. Despite the history and current situations of unfortunate trends, the African American people have managed to generate self-help tactics in response to these situations, using methods in the past such as the Civil Rights movement, organizations such as the Black Panther party, and acts of philanthropy from idolized African American media moguls. Often the harsh situations African Americans were forced to deal with were coerced upon them by other members of society, but in the case of HIV/AIDS, the problem is being created within and amongst the members of the African American community. HIV/AIDS is being spread throughout the African American community from member to member, often times unknowingly, but sometimes willingly; this issue is gaining more momentum as it infects more lives. HIV/AIDS is quickly taking the lives of members of the African American community; moreover, HIV/AIDS is killing young African American women at an intense rate. The spirit that existed within the African American community during the Civil Rights movement, which embodied hope, faith, patience, educating, and unity, is one that is needed in the current fight against HIV/AIDS; however, the African American community is rising to this challenge slowly. Due to the view of the African American community and church on homosexuality and bisexuality, married and single African American women are unknowingly being exposed to HIV/AIDS, as a result of their partners taking part in homosexual behavior while imitating a heterosexual lifestyle inorder to maintain an acceptable image based on the community and church's judgment. The hidden homosexual behavior of African American men holds a major role in the spread of HIV/AIDS within the African American community, and the lack of the church's involvement in this battle against HIV/AIDS is hindering any progression that could take place towards dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has the potential to turn into one of the largest problems this community has faced.
    Throughout the African American community, issues involving homosexuality and bisexuality are looked down upon and rarely discussed, however, due to recent discussions of an issue coined, "The Down Low", married men being involved in secret sexual rendezvous’ with other men, the matters of homosexuality and bisexuality are being discussed more within the community. Also due to the recent emergence of "The Down Low" discussion, African American women, married and non-married are realizing the importance of being tested for HIV/AIDS due to the fear of their male partners secretly taking part in “Down Low” activities and possibly bringing home HIV/AIDS after these homosexual encounters. According to an HIV/AIDS report conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2006), the primary mode of HIV transmission among African American men was sexual contact with other men, and the primary mode of HIV transmission among African American women was heterosexual contact. African American men's most common way of being infected is by having sex with other men, homosexuality, but due to the embarrassment an African American male would face from the African American community upon admitting to being homosexual, these homosexual men are portraying the heterosexual image by marrying women instead of living lifestyles that reflect their preferred sexual orientation. While being married these men are secretly taking part in "Down Low" activities in order to fulfill their homosexual desires, thus heightening their risk of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS, furthermore, exposing their female partners to the infection. The community and church's opinion on homosexuality are a cause of these men being apprehensive towards living homosexual, but another factor that causes the delaying of these men admitting to being homosexual is the fact that these men are often in denial. "Studies show that a significant number of African American men having sex with men identify themselves as heterosexual. As a result, they may not relate to prevention messages crafted for men who identify themselves as homosexuals" (CDC.gov, 2006). Due to being in denial these men don't deal with the fact that they are more susceptible to HIV/AIDS, therefore are unlikely to obtain testing, and more likely to be unaware of being HIV positive, furthermore, these men are unaware that they are spreading the disease to their sexual partners, both male and female. In a study conducted by the CDC, results revealed "that of participating African American men that have had sex with men who tested positive for HIV, 67% were unaware of their infection" (CDC.gov, 2006). This information reveals the devastating truth of why the number one cause of death for African American women aged 25-34 years is HIV/AIDS; the men are unknowingly bringing HIV/AIDS home, to an environment in which women feel they can trust their spouse and perhaps feel a little less worry in regards to not using protection during sex. The women are more vulnerable in this situation and are set up to fail if they are not given the opportunity to know that their likelihood of being infected is heightened due to their spouse's homosexual encounters. The majority of African American women that are having sex with bisexual men are unaware of doing so and therefore can not properly respond to the risk-filled situation. "African American women are most likely to be infected with HIV as a result of sex with men. They may not be aware of their male partners' possible risks for HIV infection, such as unprotected sex with multiple partners, bisexuality, or injection drug use. In a study of HIV-infected persons, 34% of African American men who have sex with men reported having had sex with women, even though only 6% of African American women reported having had sex with a bisexual man" (CDC.gov, 2006). Due to the limited amount of discussion within the African American community and church on the issue of African American men and bisexuality or homosexuality, as well as the maintained sense of homophobia in the African American community, African American's, especially women, are being prohibited from obtaining adequate knowledge on their susceptibility to HIV/AIDS. As a result of not embracing discussion of homosexuality, the African American community is decreasing the opportunity for the African American people to gain knowledge on protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS. It is often said that "ignorance is bliss", however, in regards to HIV/AIDS, ignorance is a killer.
    While, women unknowingly being exposed to HIV/AIDS has a major role in the amount of African American women being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, the influence and lack of involvement from African American churches is also holding a role. The church influences how homosexuality is viewed and assists with the homophobic notion within the African American community. If their was an understood acceptance of homosexuals by the church and the community, homosexuals would be less likely to hide their sexual orientation behind heterosexual marriages, which increases the likelihood of "Down Low" behavior and leads to a heightened risk of spreading HIV/AIDS. If the church were to respond to the current "Down Low" discussions, members of the African American community would be able to feel comfortable discussing the topic amongst each other and be able to develop proposals on how to accurately respond to the situation; furthermore the church would be able to have a role in the discussions. As a result of these discussions individuals would conclude that "Down Low" is a result of homosexuals being stigmatized, thus would be more likely to become more accepting of homosexuals within the community in an effort to decrease the amount of "Down Low" behavior. The church has other influencing roles in the African American community; the church is a symbol of not only faith, spirituality, and Christianity, but also influence, history, unity and consultation. “Long before the civil rights movement...we went to the church for everything. The church was our social service organization as well as our spiritual service organization. The church is still being looked on...by large segments of our community as being central in our lives" (Weatherford, 1999). The church could hold a leading role in the battle against HIV/AIDS and influence a large amount of people due to the amount of African Americans attending church, and the symbolic meaning and respect associated with the church. "In the 1990 book, The Black Church in the African-American Experience, Eric C. Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya estimated that 23.7 million African Americans are church members" (Weatherford, 1999). With the amount of African Americans attending church, the church would be an ideal mode for educating the community on HIV/AIDS and the related issues, several individuals would be reached through the church itself, thus making the task of reaching large masses of the population easier. Although the potential of positively affecting the African American community and the outcome of the battle against HIV/AIDS is high, the church has been slow to join the battle. "With collective and individual power far surpassing any single civil rights organization, the African - American church is a sleeping giant" (Weatherford, 1999). There are 65,000 African - American churches, each has the potential to influence its members by educating on the issue of HIV/AIDS, providing protection methods against sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS, and generating awareness. According to a study by Eric C. Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya (Weatherford, 1999), although the church has a high potential to influence the community, the church feels that the attendance at church has declined, despite the recent emergence of mega-churches, there is a lack of evangelism and adequate financing, along with secularization, sin, criticism of leadership and aging memberships in the church. These factors assist with the church's delayed response to HIV/AIDS. To this rationalization I think this question should be asked: "What is more important...to wait for attendance to increase, while members of the community are dying? Or, to reach those in the community that are currently in need of the church's support due to being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, as well as those that are at risk of soon becoming infected?"
HIV/AIDS is an epidemic that is cross-cultural, however is more prevalent within the African American community and is killing African American women the most. The factors leading to African American women being the main victims of HIV/AIDS are examples of how issues surrounding society's views on gender identity can be harmful to a whole community. Due to homosexual African American men not being able to feel comfortable with living the sexual lifestyle of their choice, they are causing women to unknowingly be exposed to HIV/AIDS. As a result of not discussing homosexuality amongst men, women are being oppressed because they are not fully aware of how homosexuality is directly affecting them and is prevalent in their community and most importantly how homosexuality amongst the males of the community is assisting with the spread of the disease that is killing African American women. The stereotypical image of a person with HIV/AIDS has often been thought of as being a Caucasian homosexual male and as a result of this stereotype the victims, more specifically African American heterosexual women are falling by the way side. The reality of what is causing the spread of HIV/AIDS within the African American community is being ignored, left inadequately researched, and if the denial of this issue and its factors continues, the African American community will continue to be on the fast track to devastation as a result of HIV/AIDS.


References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2006). "Fact Sheet: HIV/AIDS among
    African Americans". Retrieved December 04, 2006 from
    http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/resources/factsheets/aa.htm.
Gilbert, J. D. & Wright, M. E. (2003). African American women in HIV/AIDS: Critical   
    responses. Praeger Publishers: Connecticut.
Sack, K. (July 3, 2001). AIDS at 20/In the south, a different face, AIDS epidemic takes t 
    toll on black women. New York Times.
Weatherford, J. R. & Weatherford, B. C. (1999). Somebody's knocking at your door: 
    AIDS and the African-American church. The Haworth Pastoral Press: New York.
Wingood, M. G. & DiClemente, J. R. (1998). Partner influences and gender - related 
    factors associated with noncondom use among young adult African
    American women. American Journal of Community Psychology 26, (1), 1-10.
Younge, G. (April 6, 2004). Black women in the U.S. 23 times as likely to get AIDS
    virus. The Guardian.