US African-American Gay Men at Increased Risk of HIV

Whether we choose to believe it or not, whether we choose to see it or not in our everyday lives, racism still exists in America. Some of you may gasp, hold your hand over your mouth and proclaim, “No!” Others may roll their eyes and simply go, “Duh!” As a minority myself, I can say that in my almost-33 years on this earth, I have been fortunate enough not to feel the sting of racism; however, there are some who are still recipients of it and it affects them in ways you and I could never imagine. A new study out of the San Francisco Department of Public Health shows that African-American homosexual men are more likely to become infected with HIV.

According to results from the study, these African-American homosexual men have very tight-knit social and sexual networks simply because they have fewer choices for sexual partners. Due to this, HIV is spread more rapidly amongst this demographic. This study looked specifically at how different ethnic groups mingled both socially and sexually and revealed that African-American homosexual men face some social barriers other ethnicities don’t that have proven to affect their health.

US data reveals that in 2006, approximately half of all new HIV cases were in African-Americans. This is approximately four times the average for the nation. H. Fisher Raymond and Willi McFarland headed the study and researched how and why different ethnic and racial groups mingled both socially and sexually within the gay men culture of San Francisco. Over 1,100 gay men were participants in this study and were able to answer the survey questions via computer. The participants answered a series of questions on the ethnicity of themselves and their sexual partners in the previous half-year, how and where they met their sexual partners, the ease in which they could find sexual partners who were of a different ethnicity, the racial makeup of their social network and their perception on HIV and the risks surrounding it.

According to the data, most racial groups chose African-American homosexual men as the group they were least likely to have sex with. It seemed that homosexual men of different races were likely to avoid having an African-American as a sexual partner because they were viewed as a high-risk sexual encounter. In addition, African-American homosexuals were viewed as being not as welcome as other races within the major social networks of gay San Francisco. Because of these perceptions, African-American homosexual men tended to choose other African-American men as sexual partners (three times as likely).

The authors strongly feel that there is an underlying segregation that still exists between African-American homosexual men and non-African-American homosexual men whether sexually or merely socially due to perceived attitudes. This has caused African-American men to form tighter knit networks amongst each other thereby making increasing the rate at which HIV is spread. The authors state, “The racial disparity in HIV observed for more than a decade will not disappear until the challenges posed by a legacy of racism towards Blacks in the US are addressed.”