"The View", Gay blacks, and AIDS

[wac14]

I'm not sure if you all caught the episode, but apparently D.L. Hughley and Sherri Shepard seem to believe that the AIDS epidemic in the black community is caused ONLY by down low gay men. There has been quite a bit of fall out over this! Here is an article about the episode. Please weigh in on this article as well as the whole situation please! I would love to hear many of you all have to say!

http://www.365gay.com/blog/070410-the-v ... n-and-hiv/

[New_Morning]

Stupid, misinformed people being stupid and misinformed.

Do people take The View seriously? It's nice for a good laugh, but past that I can't see how anyone would find entertainment out of their babbling.

[wac14]

Well many people do watch it and take some of the material seriously. Another point is that many people still believe the lie that Sherri and DL Hughley said. Oprah, at one point said much of the same thing, that being that "Down Low" guys are responsible for the AIDS/HIV epidemic in the black community.

[Pastor Weekly]

Well, in part they are. But, the notion that they're responsible for the whole problem, or even for a majority of the problem, is grossly overstated. What's responsible for the problem is a lack of safe sexual practice, regardless of sexual orientation or closeted status. Even if people are on the DL, if they practiced safe sex, and if their partners practiced safe sex, the problem wouldn't exist. If the straight people practiced safe sex, the problem wouldn't exist. Thinking that it has its impetus in the gay community (whether DL or otherwise) is just wrong... and is a quite archaic way of thinking, if you ask me.

I soooooo don't watch The View. But maybe I'll have to try to find this episode and watch it.

[Sozo]

I did see the episode and at first I was a lil shocked but then I remembered what show I was watching. People are just misinformed, plain as that.

[wac14]

According to stats, the majority of new AIDS/HIV infections are in black women. If gay people make up 3% to 10% of the population, every black woman definitely can not mathematically be having sex with gay or bi men. Also, there was a stat that was revealed about a year ago on 365gay News and it stated that HIV/AIDS rates among D.L. men were not as high as thought. The study actually showed (the study was done, I believe by the federal health organization), and it discovered that bisexual men who are out to both their male and female sexual partners still have a higher rate of HIV infections, than DL men. Again, this was a government stat.

The problem with this all, to be honest was the special Oprah did a few years ago on gay men and the D.L. phenomena. It made many black people (and other's for that matter) think first that all gay men where D.L. and that they were all HIV-positive and having sex with women.

Lastly, the problem is that one The View, they took the responsibility away from both parties. First, many of these woman know or at least suspect that their partner is gay or bi, but yet they still go and have unprotected sex with them. Hmmm...

[Pastor Weekly]

Lastly, the problem is that one The View, they took the responsibility away from both parties. First, many of these woman know or at least suspect that their partner is gay or bi, but yet they still go and have unprotected sex with them. Hmmm...

Interesting that they don't say, "Many of these women know or at least suspect that their partner is a ho..." The person's orientation doesn't matter. People contact HIV by unprotected sex (among other ways). There isn't an orientation discrimination; so this kind of logic implies that the only way you can get HIV is to be having sex with someone who is gay or bi, and that as long as you know for sure your partner is straight, you can have all the unprotected sex you want with him/her, even if they're whoring around with other people. It's 1980's logic, which is why HIV infection rates are climbing so swiftly again after a slight drop in the late 90's/early 2000's, which was due to increased education on the subject.

It's seems that now, the gay community is the only one still actively educating on HIV, and even in our community, people are no longer taking it as seriously as they should.

I just hope they're able to develop this newfound antibody that they can spark the human body to naturally create. It doesn't kill all strains, but it's definitely a start.

[wac14]

Very true Pastor! Nevertheless, they on the View need to publically denounce this misinformation because people don't really follow scientific facts, just what popular people say.