So for today's blog post I wanted to tackle an issue that has been flying under radar until it was recently brought to my attention. I was having a tough time figuring out what to write about for this blog post so I went to my twitter Direct Messenger (follow me on twitter @KareemDAnt) and contacted a follower that posts very thought provoking articles. His twitter handle is @DCHomos and him and I have had some very interesting conversations about race and stigma in the LGBT community. So I wanted him to challenge me and give me a topic to talk about that was thought provoking.
As seen in the picture @DCHomos gave me an article called, "THE INEQUALITY OF HIV INFECTION IN AMERICA" written by Kyle Tramonte from the website www.hivequal.org (The link to the article wil be posted towards the end of the blog post). In this article the first paragraph spells out the big picture of a very big problem that is occuring in the Black community especially those that are in the LGBT Community.
As I continued to read I realized that many of the how's that I asked from reading that first sentence of the article were because of many problems that the Black Community till this day have faced which are the following: Living in a low income area or urban settings, lack of money for medication due to limited access to health care benefits, and Sex education prevention. All three of these contributing factors play an important role in helping to understand why this is happening more and more within the black community.
The article then continues to break down the many stereotypes that the black community face about this epidemic. The first one was the false fact that Black members of the LGBT community love to have unprotected sex and not use condoms. This accusation is false due a study by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) showed that in 2012 that Black members of the LGBT community were noted to participate in fewer high-risk behaviors than other members of the LGBT community. Still black members of the LGBT community were three times more likely to contract the disease from sex and six time to having an undiagnosed case.
Another stereotype is that members of the black community that are in Jail will have a higher risk to contract the disease due to the high percentage of black males that are jailed for many reasons. This is also false. In the state of Georgia from 1998 to 2005 a rule was put in place to have mandatory HIV screenings of inmates that were being put into jail for their sentence. 91 percent of those inmates tested positive for HIV prior to entering the state prison system.
And last but not least a stereotype that was not mentioned in the article written by Mr. Kyle Tramonte but, by a twitter user who just showed his pretty little uneducated self off to the world. The contributing factor of down low or "DL" guys to the epidemic made by Mr. @Nolaguy_phd. Now I didn't expect a guy who has "PHD" to have such a narrow minded way of thinking but this comment took the cake. Although it maybe possible that this could be a small portion of the epidemic that is occuring within the community to call out people who are in the closet for being the overall problem, UNACCEPTABLE. And Mr. @Nolaguy_phd should be entirely ashamed of himself for the narrow mindedness that he tweeted. But hey this just shows how ignorant people are to the problems of the world. I can only feel bad for the guy now because he is now seen as the jackass who attacked closeted gays. *Sips Tea under Palm Tree of Shade*
Now that we've squared away those types of stereotypes I'd like to share my input about this situation. We need to do better. As a member of the LGBT community at times I feel the Black members of the LGBT Community and other POC are often left behind from the white members of the the community. Not saying it's their fault, however their is much of a divide when it comes to access to resources for education on HIV/AIDS, limited access to medicine due to the lack of insurance or money. Obamacare has been somewhat of a help to try to diffuse the problem however, many black and poc citizens are still getting denied access to meds that would help with keeping us healthy. We have got to stop this divide and start raising our voices and start fighting for everyone, not just the majority. Like I stated before our freakin symbol is the Rainbow and the rainbow shows many colors just like the many colors of the LGBT members we have.
I hope my blog post was able to shed some light on this epidemic as it is a major problem that needs some light. I believe that with the right amount of voices we can start tackling the problem head on and find solutions to help this community not be left behind. To get an HIV screening or STD testing in your area visit https://gettested.cdc.gov/. Also please educate yourself on safe sex and share this article with others(http://www.hivequal.org/homepage/the-inequality-of-hiv-infection-in-america). The more we talk about this problem the more we fight the problem.
I thank you so much for reading as always and until next time,
Peace. Love. Gratitude :)