The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

I was on one site earlier that took the entire PR statement recently sent out by the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) that slams a conversation between Sherri Shepherd of “The View” and D.L. Hughley on how gay/bisexual men are one of the main contributors behind the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Black community. I also received the same e-mail. Fortunately, Shay over at BookerRising addressed the issue pretty much the same way I would have responded. All I have to do is copy and paste .

“Interesting. Because I went straight to the CDC’s website and found this fact sheet, which is dated June 2010. The fact sheet tells a much different story than the above quote cited in NBJC’s email. Blacks represent 51.5% (24,240 of 47,050 cases) of new HIV infections in 2006 (the latest CDC figures that are available on the fact sheet). Of this group, black “men who have sex with men” – otherwise known as black gay/bisexual men, as this public health term was create to appease the delusional gay/bisexual men who claim that they are not such – account for a plural majority (47%, or 10,130 of the 24,240) annual black HIV cases. Black heterosexual women account for 30.3% of all black cases. Black heterosexual men account for “only” 13.6% of new cases. Black males and black females who are intravenous drug users “only” account for 8.3% and 6.1% of all black cases respectively. Given that male-to-female transmission is eight times likelier than female-to-male transmission, one must ask: why aren’t the black heterosexual male stats much higher if so many black straight men are infecting black women?

Add the fact that black gay/bisexual men’s rate of new HIV diagnoses is more than 44 times higher than that of other men and more than 40 times that of women and that gay/bisexual men are the only group whose HIV rates aren’t decreasing. And oh, the CDC states that in a study of HIV-infected people, 34% of gay-bisexual black men (vs. 26% of Hispanic gay/bisexual men, and 13% of white gay/bisexual men) reported having had sex with women.

I agree that black gay/bisexual men are not solely responsible for fueling Black America’s too-high HIV/AIDS rate. I’d argue that there should also be a conversation about black women taking more responsibility in being more discerning about sexual partners and using protection. I’d even question the FDA blood donation ban for gay/bisexual men and that it be taken on a case-by-case basis. However, the fact remains that gay/bisexual men are a significant cause (albeit not the sole one) of black women’s rates. To claim otherwise is to be in denial.”

Now this info comes straight from the same institution being quoted by the NBJC. Yet quoting them in their entirety makes one a homophobe. Figure that one out.

If the NBJC truly wants to have an “informed dialogue around the truths about HIV/AIDS in the Black community” (taken from their press release), then they need to stop editing the CDC.