Barriers

Homophobia and stigma can cause some African American MSM to identify themselves as heterosexual or not to disclose their sexual orientation. African American MSM are more likely than other MSM not to identify themselves as being gay or bisexual—which poses a problem for education and prevention programs.

Parker and Aggleton (2002) suggest that AIDS-related stigma and discrimination remains one of the most poorly understood aspects of the epidemic because of its variations across cultures and limited theoretical frameworks for understanding how it is created, manifested, and maintained and how it impacts upon health behaviors. Around the world, HIV/AIDS-related stigma is manifested in a variety of contexts within any given society. These contexts include law and politics; institutions such as employment, educational, health and human service agencies, and religious organizations; and socially, within the family and community (Snyder et al. 1999, Surlis and Hyde 2001, PANOS Institute 2002).

MOB BEATS CROSS-DRESSER, Jamaica Observer, article by Horace Hines: "Falmouth no pet no b***y boy. We no want none a them bout here," one woman yelled. After the mob dispersed, the victim was whisked off in a police service vehicle, much to the disapproval of the crowd who rushed upon the vehicle demanding the man's release. "If you ever did see him. Him dress hotter than you and me," one young girl was overheard telling her friend. "Nu worry man, we gi him a proper [beating]," one man said proudly. The man was admitted to hospital. However, a police spokesman said last night that a group of people, who wanted to beat the man on his release, were waiting outside the hospital, which, he said, could delay his release from the health facility. Yesterday's beating was the second such in a month in western Jamaica. In the previous incident, several men alleged to be homosexuals were chased, beaten and stabbed, resulting in one of them being hospitalised, during the Supreme Ventures carnival on Gloucester Avenue, Montego Bay. The men were said to have gone onto the stage and gyrated on each other, angering the patrons.