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(New York City) The invitation arrived in
Tokes Osubu's e-mail inbox on Monday, and the contents astounded him: Black and
Latino men were being invited to attend a gay sex party this weekend where
condoms would be banned. Show up with a condom, the invitation said, and you'll
be asked to leave.
"I was shocked and
disgusted," said Osubu, executive director of Gay Men of
African Descent, a Harlem-based nonprofit group battling the
HIV/AIDS epidemic among black gay men.
Osubu sent the party's promoter
a letter urging him to reconsider the policy, and the group
plans to protest Saturday outside the East Harlem building
where the party is scheduled to be held.
The party comes just weeks
before the 25th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic and at a time
when black men are facing startlingly high HIV infection
rates. Nearly half of black men who have sex with men are
HIV-positive, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
estimates.
"I'm sick of 18-year-olds
coming in here HIV-positive," Osubu, 46, said in his East
Harlem office. "It's got to stop."
"We want to send a strong
message to (the party's promoter) and promoters like him that
it's unacceptable, and to the larger community that we're not
all complicit in this behavior. We're not just idle
bystanders."
The invitation lists an address
and apartment number and a cell phone number. On Friday, the
promoter returned a message seeking comment but refused to
identify himself and repeatedly said the party was private.
Apparently the party will be
the third. In the graphic invitation, the host thanked the
"54" people who attended the last gathering. Other
sex parties are held in New York and other major cities, but
typically offer condoms and sometimes encourage safe sex,
Tokes and others say.
The invitation to this
weekend's party warns: "Anyone caught using jimmies
(condoms) will be asked to leave with no refund given!!"
(The entry fee is $5-$10.)
Others in the black gay
community have condemned the policy. Activist and blogger
Keith Boykins wrote on his Web site: "It's the year 2006
... and some men are still carrying on like it's 1976,"
wrote Boykins, who prefaced his comments by saying he (like
Osubu and others) condemns the no-condom policy, not sex among
consenting adults.
"It's time to stop this
irresponsible behavior," Boykins wrote. "It's time
to put an end to these condomless sex parties."
Between Jan. 1 and March 31 in
2005, black New Yorkers, who are 26 percent of the city's
population, accounted for more than half -- 52.7 percent -- of
the city's AIDS-related deaths, with Hispanics accounting for
one-third of the deaths. Blacks also accounted for more than
half -- 52.9 percent -- of new HIV diagnoses during that
period, with Hispanics accounting for 30 percent, the city's
health department said.
Nationally, in 2004, the HIV
diagnosis rate for black men was seven times the rate for
white men; twice the rate for Hispanic men; and nearly twice
the rate for black women, the CDC says. Most infections among
all men result from gay sex, the CDC says.
Gay Men of African Descent was
started a quarter-century ago by an openly gay Pentecostal
minister, Osubu said. Charles Angel hoped to empower black gay
men, who he felt were marginalized by heterosexual blacks and
the white community.
Today the group is mostly
government-funded and had revenue of more than $1.5 million in
2004, according to its tax filing.
It offers free HIV testing and
support group meetings and outreach services like mobile
testing and condom distribution. It also works with another
organization to help HIV-positive people disclose their status
to family and friends.
Tokes and others blamed the
epidemic, in part, on homophobia, denial, blame and shame
surrounding homosexuality. They engender alienation and
isolation among gay men who often end up feeling worthless and
sometimes suicidal, they said.
Phill Wilson, executive
director of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles, also
blamed disparities in funding for prevention and treatment for
black gay men. But he added that the men also bear
responsibility -- and not just those hosting and attending the
parties.
"It's not just about the
men who participate but about what a community will allow to
be done in its name," Wilson, 50, said. "It's an
affront to black gay men and it's a direct insult to all of
our friends, family and loved ones who've died of AIDS."
©365Gay.com 2006
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