Black Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for over 50 percent of all new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That infection rate is eight times the rate of whites. Among women, the numbers are even more shocking--- almost 70 percent of all newly diagnosed HIV-positive women in the United States are black women. Black women are 23 times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than white women, with heteros*xual contact being the overwhelming method of infection in black America.
Terry Moran talks to experts in several key areas that contribute to the spread of AIDS in black America, including the disproportionate number of black men in prison. Prisons have AIDS infection rates five times higher than outside the walls, and many men go into prison HIV negative and come out infected, often without knowing it, since there is no comprehensive national testing, prevention, or treatment program for prison and jail inmates.
And because homos*xuality and bis*xuality carry such a strong stigma in black America, African American men may choose to hide their s*xual orientation. Men who have s*x with men, and then also have s*x with women without necessarily telling their female partners about their male encounters, are one of the topics covered in back to back roundtable discussions led by Jennings and Moran. Black men and women talk openly about s*xual patterns in black America, denial, secrecy, and shame. "I know of few communities as conservative as the African American community, especially about s*x," says Debra Fraser-Howze, CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS in New York. "And when it comes to homos*xuality, it's a real problem. Nobody wants to talk about it."
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2...
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Tuesday, October 5th 2010 at 3:50PM
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