“We needed to do more and figure out different ways to intervene.” “That was kind of a national wake-up call to Black gay men and the HIV community.that we had missed the boat with this population,” said Keith Green, co-founder and current vice board chairman of the Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus and Assistant Professor at Loyola University.
Although Chicago was not included in the survey, the report set off metaphoric alarm bells. Most of those men were also not aware of their HIV status and therefore not linked to care. The report shared findings from a survey that found 46% of the Black gay, bisexual and same gender loving men who participated were living with HIV.
In the summer of 2005, party promoters, bar and bathhouse owners, government representatives, community leaders, health providers and Black gay, bisexual and same gender loving men convened at what was formerly the Ramada Inn on 47th Street and South Lakeshore Drive to address a dire need.Ī few months earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on HIV prevalence in five cities.
