I am an African American, HIV
positive heterosexual man, living with the HIV virus. My perspective about HIV
positive heterosexual men being invisible in HIV prevention stems from my
experience over the past 16 years as a HIV positive heterosexual man, activist,
health educator, and HIV prevention planner.
HIV positive heterosexual men being
invisible in HIV prevention, is a question that has been discussed, studied,
and debated by HIV planners, governmental offices of AIDS, and HIV positive
individuals throughout the United States since this insidious disease reached
the pandemic stage of existence. I would really like to speak to this topic
from a positive heterosexual male point of view, but that has not been my true
experience. Being an African American HIV positive man, HIV has been entwined
in my culture, socioeconomic condition, and it is been heavily stigmatized. I
have had a very different and traumatic experience with HIV.
The populations of heterosexual
positive men in America have unknowingly for the most part and knowingly on
the-other-hand, allowed ourselves to become invisible in HIV prevention. This
invisibility is perpetuated by discrimination and stigma. For example, most
HIV+ men are bread winners and we don’t have time or the support to mobilize.
However, many are not spiritually fit enough to stand up and face
discrimination, stigma, and ridicule. Therefore, most of us sit on the side
lines and wait for the empowered populations of gay and bi-sexual men to fight
the HIV battle for us. This approach allows our status to remain confidential
and we can remain in the background. Conversely, we reap all the benefits that
are afforded the gay male population, as a result of their effort, protest, and
activism.
Moreover, Homosexuality is
stigmatized in many African American communities and is also denounced by the
majority of black churches, who see it as a sin. Most straight HIV positive men
will tell you we are extremely uncomfortable in casual conversation with
effeminate or homosexual men because they tend to take our acceptance of their
sexuality as an opportunity to try to engage us sexually. We are not
homophobic, but it is very difficult for us (straight HIV+ men) to relate to
gay men who are unlike us, so we do not advocate, attend HIV functions, or
strategies that are aimed at HIV positive men.
According to the Centers for Disease
Control (2011) knowing your epidemic in a particular community is the first
step in identifying, selecting, and funding the most appropriate and effective
HIV prevention measures for that community. As a result, most heterosexual HIV+
men absolutely do not want to be categorized with anyone or anything that is
homosexual. Consequently, the covert and overt power of discrimination and
stigma toward HIV infection causes straight men to recoil and remain silent
about their plight. This is the driving force behind the invisibility of HIV+
heterosexuals in HIV prevention.
Stigma towards people living with
HIV is more often believed to have its roots in misconceptions about the virus.
In regards to knowledge and perception, a higher percentage of African
Americans believe myths that the virus can be transmitted via kissing or sharing
a drinking glass. Clearly, the HIV prevention educational messages are not
reaching the African American populations at the levels of our understanding
and existence. The Black AIDS Institute (2006) according to Reverend Jesse Jackson stated that; AIDS has been allowed to stalk and
murder Black America like a serial killer because we have been a complacent
victim, submitting through inaction. It is now time for us to fight AIDS like
the major civil rights issue it is... Therefore, a paradigm shift needs to
occur in today’s HIV prevention strategies for African Americans. This shift
must address the ineffective prevention efforts of today and to educate our children,
adolescent, teen, young adult and adult populations about HIV. Only then, do I
believe that our HIV+ heterosexual black men will become empowered, motivated,
and supported to raise their voices to fight our HIV prevention inequities and
become visible in the HIV battle.
References
Black AIDS Institute (2006, June) AIDS
in blackface: 25 years of an Epidemic. Retrieved, May 29, 2012, from http://blackaids.org/showarticle
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (2011) 'HIV surveillance report: Diagnoses
of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2009'
Volume 21 Retrieved,
May 29, 2012, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/surveillance