Alarmed by the staggering number of new cases of HIV/AIDS in the African American community, the Reverend Al Sharpton is launching a new initiative aimed at addressing the stigma in the African American that has long surrounded the disease.

Sharpton is calling for Black preachers to assist him in confronting the issue of homophobia among African Americans, a topic long considered taboo, especially in the Black religious community.
“There is latent homophobia in our community,” said Sharpton, who announced the initiative last week at the home of Allen Roskoff, a gay rights activist.

Over the next year, the civil rights activist will conduct public forums at churches and schools aimed at educating the public about HIV/AIDS, while using his bully pulpit to caution against discriminating against gays and lesbians.

“I’m going to challenge the bias in our community,” said Sharpton, who also plans to begin airing public service announcements on Black radio stations that will train a spotlight on the epidemic, which continues to be a leading cause of death among African Americans, especially in the South.

“This is a bold step for the Reverend to take,” said Roskoff, who has known and worked with Sharpton for more than 20 years. “I think it’s always an excellent time to move forward to fight bigotry and homophobia,” said Roskoff, adding that Sharpton’s decision to focus on this issue will help to generate national attention and could very well save lives in the long-term.

At the reception held at Roskoff’s West Village apartment last week, Mayoral candidates C. Virginia Fields and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller were joined by other political leaders and city officials like Thomas R. Frieden, who pointed out that the deadly disease is growing among African Americans—particularly Black women.
They pledged to join with Sharpton to assist.

Sharpton’s campaign comes at a time when a number of Black preachers including the Rev. James A. Forbes, senior minister at Riverside Church in Harlem, have been trying to counter the anti-gay rhetoric resounding from Black pulpits across America each week.

At a church service last week, Forbes told his congregation that discrimination against gays and lesbians has no place in society.

“Your job is to get up every day and be grateful to God for your DNA,” he said. “It took an artist divine to make this design.”

Still, Sharpton, Forbes and others are likely to face resistance from many who remain adamant that homosexuality is a sin.

But Phil Wilson, the executive director of the Black AIDS Institute, said that Sharpton, who remains extremely popular among African American preachers, could use his national prominence to help challenge a particular mindset.

“He can serve to encourage his peers to speak out,” said Wilson, adding that the issue has become a lightning rod in the Black religious community. He laments that Black preachers have not done enough to adequately address the issue.

“Historically, the church has been a sanctuary for Black people,” said Wilson. “Sadly, Black churches have not stepped up to the plate on HIV/AIDS as they have historically stepped up to the plate on other issues.”

The absence of a discussion about the disease, coupled with growing sentiments within the Black community that homosexuality is wrong, has led many African Americans to hide their sexual identity for fear of being rejected, Wilson said.

Marjorie Fields-Harris, the executive director of Sharpton’s National Action Network, will spearhead the initiative.

“It’s a lot larger then passing out a condom,” said Harris. “We have to address the social factors. We can go into the churches and the community and address this issue from a grassroots perspective.”
Sharpton said that an equal amount of attention must be focused on homophobia. To this day, he remains troubled by the way that his mentor, Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist and a close confidant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been treated by some Black leaders when they learned that he was gay.

Some urged King to kick Rustin out of the movement, but to his credit, he refused, Sharpton said.

During his presidential race last year, Sharpton was one of the only candidates who publicly supported gay marriage, and earlier this year at the request of Brian Ellner, an openly gay candidate running for Manhattan borough president, Sharpton marched in the city’s Gay Pride Parade.

“Rev. Sharpton can do enormous good on this issue in New York City and nationally,” said Ellner. “We still need to get past old concepts of this disease and continue to challenge homophobia.”