By Cristy Latagan, Assistant Training Coordinator for the Harm Reduction Coalition
To address the ways that HIV and homophobia intersect and must be redressed, New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center held an event hosted by the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP)the other night.
Think HIV/AIDS is passé? That homophobia is so last century? In the United States, where 45% of the roughly 1 million people living with HIV are men who contracted the virus via sex with men — and 49% of new diagnosis were among black men — homophobia remains a key factor in the spread of HIV.
It deters people from testing: the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that over a quarter of all infected persons are unaware of their infection. It’s a factor in drug use and addiction. And homophobia deters people from coming out and from protecting themselves and their partners during sex — whether from self-loathing or out of fear that insisting on safer sex with female partners will tip the women off to their also having sex with men.
Most speakers at the forum, titled Fighting Homophobia to Fight HIV: Approaches to Unite Movements for LGBTQ Rights & HIV Prevention Justice, talked about one of two possible solutions: 1) working to shift social norms (so, for example, there wouldn’t be so many men who have sex with men living double lives on the down low a la former U.S. Senator Larry Craig, former mega-church pastor Ted Haggard as well as some men of color), or 2) figuring out do-it-yourself (DIY) grassroots campaigns and services.
Sean Cahill, Ph.D., of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC)suggested moving from individual and group-level interventions to a larger market as a way of shifting social norms and whittling away at the embedded perspectives of particular communities. My initial reaction was to smirk and roll my eyes. Was he serious? (They’re called norms for a reason.) But then I remembered that our country’s newly inaugurated 44th President is an African-American man who just signed an executive order to shut down Guantanamo within a year and supports syringe exchange programs. Attempting to shift social norms and dispel long-standing preconceived notions of disenfranchised communities didn’t seem so impossible after all!
GMHC’s efforts to address homophobia include their on-going social marketing and anti-stigma campaigns. And they want the CDC to spend more money on marginalized populations who are at higher risk of contracting HIV such as gay and bisexual men of color, women of color, young people, transwomen, and immigrants. That would be a big step in combating institutionalized homophobia and mobilizing HIV prevention.
Alvin Starks, a philanthropic strategist and researcher, promoted more DIY efforts and suggested that we feed off America’s current, forward moving political will. When an audience member asked for possible resources after sharing his story about being publicly harassed by homophobes, and not knowing how to respond non-violently, Starks suggested that he research and create his own resource — a how-to he could share with others. Again, I smirked and maybe rolled one eye before catching myself and thinking, "This Starks makes perfect sense." If you want something done right, do it yourself. Or, for the more idyllic, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Thanks, Gandhi.
Panelist also reminded us of the power of non-queer identified organizations taking a stance on queer-related issues. For example, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California as well as Google, Inc. opposed California's Proposition 8. Barbara Warren, the LGBT Community Center’s Director of Organizational Development, Planning and Research, urged us to make more use of coalition and movement building with straight allies when fighting homophobia and heterosexism.
Were Warren and Starks separated at birth? Warren talked about healing the divide; Starks opined that social movements fail to come together because we’re all competing in the Olympics of the Oppressed. Agreed.