AEGiS-BAYW: Black gay coalition recruits new members

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Black gay coalition recruits new members

Bay Windows - August 31, 2006
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com

The National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition, officially formed last January to advocate for resources to combat HIV/AIDS in the black gay male community, has begun a membership drive to recruit new members as it prepares to begin lobbying the federal government. Rudy Carn, chair of the coalition, said the coalition is looking for both individuals and organizations interested in being part of the effort.

"We want individual members as well as health departments. It's going to be a group effort," said Carn.

Already the San Francisco AIDS Foundation has signed on as a member, donating $10,000 to the coalition.

The coalition will come together for its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Sept. 5-6 to put together a legislative agenda that will include a push for increased federal funding for research, programs and services targeting the black gay male population.

"We're going to come out with our legislative agenda and present it to the legislators, and that's what we're going to be concentrating on for the next year or so," said Carn.

The coalition has a 14-member executive committee representing HIV/AIDS service organizations, health departments, and black gay organizations from around the country. Carn said the committee came together in response to the 2005 release of a CDC study showing that in five cities, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco, 46 percent of black gay men were found to be HIV positive. He said members felt the response at all levels of government to that study and to other data on the impact of HIV/AIDS in the black gay male community was inadequate.

"It hasn't been the response that we would have liked to have seen from anybody, and that's part of the reason the coalition came into existence, because of that response," said Carn.

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Visit www.nbgmac.org for more information.

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