Our History Is Each Other: Lessons from Black Gay Mens HIV Movement - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Our History Is Each Other: Lessons from Black Gay Men’s HIV Movement History

WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE

• Black gay men have always been

present in the HIV movement.

• The community has always been

disproportionately impacted.

• Patients 1-5 in the first reported cases,

that eventually became known as AIDS, were white gay men.

• Patients 6 and 7 were both Black.

The the seventh patient, specifically, was a Black gay man.

Early Response

• In 1983, Gil Gerald met with

Civil Rights Leaders, such as Coretta Scott King and Dr. Joseph Lowrey to discuss Black LGBTQ issues.

• The goal was to get support for

the effect AIDS was having on the Black gay community.

I WILL BE HEARD!

• Craig G. Harris disrupts

the 1986 APHA meeting.

• No POC were a part of the

first ever HIV plenary.

• He took the stage and

proclaimed “I will be heard.”

We Resist: Generation 1986

Black gay men responded to the epidemic by creating institutions:

• Other Countries
• ADODI
• GMAD
• National Task Force on AIDS

Prevention

We Resist: Generation 1986, cont…

• The National Coalition of Black

Lesbians and Gays organized the first conference on HIV in the black community.

• Craig G. Harris was the

Conference Coordinator.

• Conference participants such as

Gil Gerald, Rev. Carl Bean and Paul Kawata met with Surgeon General C. Everett Koop

We Resist: Generation 1986, cont…

• In opening remarks, Gil

Gerald called out

• rganizations like the

NAACP for not being present around the issue

• f AIDS in the Black

community.

Key Figures - Marlon Riggs

Marlon Riggs, cont…

Clip #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XIitKlNcY Clip #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX9reaHLwhk Clip #3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adkGDqSg91s

Key Figures - Fred Garnett

"As a Black person, I often felt a strange isolation in having AIDS. I knew that half the PWAs in the Washington, D.C. area were Black but I rarely saw them-not at the research centers, the clinics, the doctors' offices, or at the support groups."

Key Figures - Essex Hemphill

• Essex Hemphill used poetry and

prose to talk about homophobia, racism, HIV and how these forces impact the lives of black gay men.

• Was an early voice recognizing

how HIV was a racial justice issue.

Key Figures - Mario Cooper

• Get Your Black Up!
• Encouraged the Black

community to form our own version of ACT UP.

• Nexus of Civil Rights,

Democratic politics and HIV

Key Figures - Mario Cooper, cont…

• Board Chair of AIDS Action

Council.

• Organized Leading for Life

at the Harvard AIDS Institute.

• Worked in the Carter White

House.

Key Figures - Mario Cooper, cont…

• Critical of AIDS funding

(courageous dissent)

• Leading for Life conference
• AIDS in the black community

video at the Harvard AIDS Institute: https://www.c- span.org/video/?102633- 1/aids-black-community

Key Developments in the Late 1990s-Now

• In 1995 and 1996 antiretroviral drugs are

approved, and the conversation shifts from more community sustainment to biomedical approaches to HIV.

• Black gay and bisexual men still

disproportionately impacted.

• 1998 Congressional Black Caucus

declares state of emergency and creates Minority AIDS Initiative.

• 1 in 2 ...

Key Developments, cont…

• Developed by epidemiologists to

study the spread of disease among men who sleep with men, regardless

• f identity.
• Has become demographic category.
• Limits the medical and social

research to conversations about disease.

Social Marketing Campaign Renaissance

Black Gay Futures: The Power of Speaking Collectively

What would it take for us to build a network to save our lives?

Key Lessons

• We have a rich and vibrant history
• f HIV activism.
• We have always been

disproportionately affected by HIV.

• We have what we need to affect

change in our lives and on our community.

Thank You!