These numbers of new cases are both breathtaking and tragic.

The FACE of HIV/AIDS in this country is the BLACK or BROWN MAN. People dont want to talk about it because we in the public health and advocacy community dont want to partake in scapegoating one group which is often what happens when you look for The Face of a disease.

And for most people reading the statistics would say “But look 2 out of 3 women with HIV is a black woman while only 4 out of 10 men with HIV are black”. But when you are looking at the statistics more black men have died, more black men are living with HIV and more black men are being diagnosed than black women. In public health speak : there have been more cumulative deaths, more incident infections and more people living with HIV/AIDS that are black men than among any other group.

The reason you dont often hear this is because few advocates take the time to look at the statistics. Further, advocates want a sympathetic poster child to get the point across. People get up in arms about the sisters with HIV now but maybe not so much about brothers having sex with brothers.

Unfortunately talking about HIV and our brothers forces us to love past our homophobia and go beyond demonizing and pathologizing black sexuality. Twenty six years of this epidemic tells us this is a task we are still not up to.

These numbers of new cases are both breathtaking and tragic.

The FACE of HIV/AIDS in this country is the BLACK or BROWN MAN. People dont want to talk about it because we in the public health and advocacy community dont want to partake in scapegoating one group which is often what happens when you look for The Face of a disease.

And for most people reading the statistics would say “But look 2 out of 3 women with HIV is a black woman while only 4 out of 10 men with HIV are black”. But when you are looking at the statistics more black men have died, more black men are living with HIV and more black men are being diagnosed than black women. In public health speak : there have been more cumulative deaths, more incident infections and more people living with HIV/AIDS that are black men than among any other group.

The reason you dont often hear this is because few advocates take the time to look at the statistics. Further, advocates want a sympathetic poster child to get the point across. People get up in arms about the sisters with HIV now but maybe not so much about brothers having sex with brothers.

Unfortunately talking about HIV and our brothers forces us to love past our homophobia and go beyond demonizing and pathologizing black sexuality. Twenty six years of this epidemic tells us this is a task we are still not up to.