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The deadly secret; Rudolph Carn finally faced it (cont.
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Changing attitudes
Negative attitudes toward gays were prevalent in the African-American community, as in other communities, before the sexual revolution of the 1960s. That is changing now, some say, and people are beginning to talk.
"When AIDS came along, we found out that this secret could kill people," said Dazon Dixon Diallo, director and founder of SisterLove, a nonprofit Atlanta-based HIV/AIDS service organization for women. "So there is this double-edged sword of having to deal more openly with homophobia in our community to save our community."
Diallo said negative attitudes in the African-American community can be traced to slavery and racism, which defined black sexuality in negative terms.
"One component of making racism work is to ensure that the image of black sexuality is a threat or is inferior in some way," she said. "We've been painted as these overly sexualized, overly sensuous, promiscuous beings, and we've internalized a lot of that."
Pernessa C. Seele, founder of the Balm in Gilead, a New York based nonprofit organization that encourages black churches to address HIV issues, added that for many years, religious leaders in the black community used the Bible to justify their treatment of gays and lesbians."
Just like the slave industry used the Bible to justify enslaving African-Americans, we use it to oppress the black gay community," said Seele. "That's the throat-hold on this issue."
Churches responding.
But Seele and others in the religious community note that not all African-American churches take such positions and, in fact, some are doing a good job of responding to the HIV crisis.
In Tennessee, for instance, the Metropolitan Interdenominational Church has an outreach program for drug addicts in poor black communities. The Well is a church-based community drop-in center for African-American women that promotes self-help and wellness in a low-income housing project in Los Angeles.
Here in Atlanta, Antioch Baptist Church North has an AIDS ministry for women; and although it's not specifically designed for persons with HIV/AIDS, Flipper Temple AME Church in southwest Atlanta offers counseling and other services to those suffering with the disease as part of the church's health ministry.
But national African-American leaders who met in Atlanta recently to draw up a response to the AIDS epidemic said that homophobia continues to be a major culprit in the spread of HIV/AIDS in the community.
Nearly two dozen ministers stood in support of the effort and pledged to take on homophobia from the pulpit.
"One of the things that allows us to respond effectively to the issue of homophobia is, we have a clear biblical mandate to love one another," said the Rev. Edwin C. Sanders II, pastor of Metropolitan Interdenominational Church.
Sanders said this is one more in a long line of tough issues, from human rights to civil rights, that historically black churches are ready to confront.
The Rev. Charles E. Wells Sr., pastor of Flipper Temple AME Church, said he frequently preaches inclusion and tolerance to his 700-member congregation.
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