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Black Pride Amidst Crisis
Black Pride Amidst Crisis Summit, Weekend Events Geared to Ending HIV Menace, Anti-Gay Brutality
By DUNCAN OSBORNE
In 2001, a group of black gay men met in New York City to discuss what they saw as the shortcomings in science and studies about the lives in their community. There was not enough research on the lives of African-American gay and bisexual men and what little there was tended to focus on HIV and AIDS.
The men, now part of an organization with 20 members titled the Black Gay Research Group, will hold their second summit meeting August 4 and 5 that will draw 200 academics, health care and social service providers, researchers and others to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Brooklyn.
The two keynote speakers this year are author Keith Boykin, whose most recent book, “Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America,” made it onto to The New York Times bestseller list, and Dr. David J. Malebranche, an assistant professor at the Division of General Medicine at Emory University’s School of Medicine in Atlanta who has authored a number of studies on black gay men, HIV and how those men view doctors.
Boykin said he will talk about recent violence directed against gay and lesbian African-Americans including Sakia Gunn, Arthur Warren, Wanda Alston, Dwan Prince and Rashawn Brazell.
“In light of recent events, including violence against black gays and lesbians and homophobic remarks by black ministers, I’m going to use the speech to black gays and lesbians to call on them to stand up and be counted in this debate and not participate in our own oppression,” Boykin said.
Read the entire article at Gay City News.
Posted by RBMF on August 5, 2005 04:06 PM | Permalink
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