Black Gay Community Research Paper

HIV Prevalence Within the Black Gay Community

“Millett, who is himself black and gay, was well aware that black men tend to have sex with other black men, almost exclusively. What if that behavior was putting them in danger? It’s simple mathematics: the closer-knit a community is, the more any risk factors for infection become amplified. He began to wonder: What if the most dangerous thing a gay black man could do was what came naturally to him: to date the people he was attracted to, the people he was friends with, the people who surround him?”
- Greg Millet

HIV has been a prevalent disease that has run rampant throughput many countries, but in the United States the fast growing rate of infected people are among young black gay men. …show more content…
In order to understand this problem we must understand the different levels that are intertwined in order to attack the problem effectively. As defined by Professor Schuster the ecological model is “the complex interactions between individuals and their environments as determinants of behavior.” This also encompasses Behavior Theory where there are a myriad of factors f behavioral ecology such as community, society, culture, social groups individuals participate, attitudes and knowledge as well. With racially homophilous groups in terms of sexual partnerships amongst black MSM this small social group is one of the contributing factors to high HIV rates and socioeconomic structures. “HIV-positive black gay men are three and a half times more likely to make less than $20,000 in annual income, are 50 percent less likely to have access to health insurance, and are less likely to visit health care providers than are white gay men” (Grindley). Thus their socioeconomic status greatly makes them disproportionately affected by health disparities i.e. HIV. That is why interventions encompassing social and structural change are essential to systematically addressing the root causes black MSM’s HIV vulnerability. A lot of the complex and intertwining relationships occur between HIV and behaviors it is surrounded by socio-cultural issues that are at the …show more content…
With new data arising about HIV in the black MSM community it is fundamental to create programs and initiate in which awareness is spread to facilitate conversations. Discussing the health initiatives where people apart of the gay community can come out and have an active discourse as a community about health risks associated with behaviors that can potentially save lives. Raising awareness about condom usage at a societal level so that it can reach the masses with be very effective in reaching a large demographic. Like I mentioned before HIV related behaviors are deep and complex which makes it difficult to address interventions specifically with black communities. The two viable options are spreading awareness about the risks associated with intra-racial sexual relationships among black gay communities. This could take effect through community based programs that target this specific group. With many of the studies done it leads to the institutional level and the “constrains or promotes certain behaviors”(Hayden). In this case our society is entrapped a prejudice way of thinking and maybe as a society we could possibly be more inclusive of all people versus de facto forms of

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