Will Black Churches Finally Do Something About HIV/AIDS in Black Women?

. 07/23/2012 . 10 Comments

Since the early 1980s when the AIDS crisis first became widely publicized, black churches have kept silent.

At that time it was believed that AIDS was “the gay disease” and therefore would not affect African Americans. That dream went up in smoke a few years later when it was discovered that HIV could be transmitted through blood, sharing dirty needles, deep kissing with someone that had bleeding gums or open cuts in their mouth, and through heterosexual sexual activities. Before you could say “boo!” the Aids boogeyman was out of the closet and killing gay black men and IV street drug users.

AIDS, the Down Low Black Man and Hetereosexual Black Women

AIDS HIV black women down low men single black women Until the shocking release of E. Lynn Harris’ book Invisible Life about the many married and otherwise “straight” black men that had secret sex lives with other men in 1991,  few black women knew anything about what we now call “down low” men. Too bad that the largest regular gathering spot for black women – the black church – ignored the AIDS crisis in the U.S. for 30 years. Only recently have black churches began organizing and discussing the disease that is devastating black communities nationwide. Statistics reported by the Centers for Disease Control in 2011 reported that Blacks Americans, representing just 13% of the U.S. population, account for more than half of all new HIV diagnoses. The shocking report went on to say that 1 in 30 Black women and 1 in 16 Black men will be infected with HIV in their lifetime.

What could churches have done to arrest the spread of AIDS in the black community? I say a lot that they didn’t do because its easier to pretend that black men aren’t having secret homosexual liaisons with other gay or in the closet black men. It was also easier to pretend that black men, the largest population of convicts in the nation, were not having homosexual liaisons (whether by force or consent) while locked up in prison.  It was also easier to pretend that AIDS was a disease that God used to wipe out sinners, freaks and sodomites. Such dismissive judgments implied  that if you contracted AIDS it meant you got it for a reason and God said you deserved to have it.

Such ignorance is inexcusable.  Hundreds of thousands of religious leaders in black churches flatly refused to use their influence and numbers to quickly spread scientific information and education about the many ways this new killer disease could be contracted and transmitted. Such irresponsibility is unforgivable. Obviously, throwing the Bible at AIDS hasn’t worked in spite of the fact that black women are the most religious demographic in the nation, and constitute the largest number of people attending church.

How Christian Men Respond to Female HIV Cases

Discussing this topic with some alleged Christian men, they angrily and judgmentally retorted that women should keep their legs closed and if they contracted HIV/AIDS it was because they slept around and were nothing but whores. This in spite of the fact that these guys were the BIGGEST WHORES in the world before they found Jesus, and were only moderately less of a whore afterwards.  That all of them are not dead from AIDS or at least HIV positive is a frickin miracle.

They seemed to ignore the fact that the greatest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the black community in the 1980s were gay black males, male IV drug users and MARRIED WOMEN. Yes, that’s right – the women waiting at home for their down low husbands to come home and make love to them.

Obviously, if women are getting HIV and AIDS they are getting it from men. The highest rate of AIDS is in gay males, and the lowest rate is in lesbian females. The CDC Fact Sheet HIV Among Gay and Bisexual Men (May 2012) states:

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM)1 represent approximately 2% of the US population, yet are the population most severely affected by HIV. In 2009, MSM accounted for 61% of all new HIV infections, and MSM with a history of injection drug use (MSM-IDU) accounted for an additional 3% of new infections. That same year, young MSM accounted for 69% of new HIV infections among persons aged 13–29 and 44% of infections among all MSM. At the end of 2009, an estimated 441,669 (56%) persons living with an HIV diagnosis in the US were MSM or MSM-IDU.

So in spite of the fact that many married women that had NEVER cheated on their husbands, many young women that had only slept with their one true love either after or before marriage, and many young women that never used drugs or slept around were contracting the disease and dying, black churches continued to ignore the epidemic and pretend it didn’t concern ‘us’.

Do Churches Contribute to HIV/ AIDS Cases Amongst Black Women?black churches AIDS HIV in black women

It’s an interesting question. Some would say no, if you women would follow biblical scripture and only have sex after marriage, this wouldn’t be a problem for you! That is flatly untrue. What a woman does and what her husband has done in the past or during their marriage is beyond her control. Being married is no guarantee you won’t end up with HIV or AIDS, contracting it from your husband.

And though churches do want to reach out and convert people to their belief system, I believe that prison ministries are very dangerous for female congregants. Prison ministries bring women into contact with convicts – people that have made a mess of their lives and in some respect, most by hurting other people. Prisoners tend to be savvy, slick people with a lot of game. Coming from an environment where you are either the prey or the predator, convicts are always vying to get the upper hand and control those they believe are weaker .

Since prisoners often find God or Allah in prison, when they get out they will attend the church or mosque that helped them while behind bars. Prison ministries  bring a lot of men of questionable morals and mentality into contact with single black women and their children. HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis (A B and C), and other diseases are very common amongst prisoners (CDC Correctional Health Data & Statistics, Feb. 2011)

Naive church women write and talk to the prisoners and pray with them, basically being set up as a mark for a prisoner that needs a roof over his head and someone to help support him when he gets out. So he will feign love and speak of commitment and happily ever after. Since she has been trained to believe that she is not to judge his past, but to forgive and let God be the judge, she will overlook many things that are red flags. Trusting that he is a changed man and a True Believer (without a modicum of proof), she will believe that what he is saying is true and marry him shortly after his release from prison, if not while he is still locked up.

NAACP AIDS Initiative for Black Churches

However, in July 2012 (more than 30 years later), the NAACP has launched a two-year initiative to address the disproportionately high number of HIV/AIDS cases that affect black men and women.  The Dialogue with the Black Church program “will create a strategic road map for faith leaders to follow in helping to reduce the spread of HIV throughout his or her community. ”

Obviously, reading the bible is not doing anything to quench the sexual desires of congregants, and people had sex and will continue to have sex whether they go to church and worship God or not.  Continuing to rely on ancient scriptures to address 21st century social issues has not worked and never will. It’s time for black churches to take the lead on many issues that affect the black community if we are to turn things around on a large scale.

What is your take on this initiative? Do you think this push will get black church leaders to address sexuality in a realistic fashion in black churches?

Can this NAACP initiative be enough to turn things around in the black community? Or is it too little, too late?

If this initiative won’t do the trick to quell the tide of rising HIV/AIDS cases amongst black women, then what will?

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11 Votes

Deborrah

Veteran social researcher, relationship advice columnist, author and radio host. Author of hundreds of articles on American and black culture, gender issues, singles, dating and relationships. Author of "Sucka Free Love!" , "The 24 Types of Suckas to Avoid," "The Black Church - Where Women Pray and Men Pray," and "Why Vegan is the New Black" all available on Amazon.Com. Her unique voice and insightful commentary have delighted fans and riled haters for 20 years. Read her stuff on SurvivingDating.Com and AskHeartBeat.Com.

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Category: Society and Culture, The Black Church


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