Putting gay black men on safer path is their cause

July 06, 2011|By Melissa Dribben, Inquirer Staff Writer

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The stigma of HIV keeps many people from talking about their status, even to their sex partners.

"You have to clock your T," says a young man who goes to the Q Spot to offer peer counseling. The expression, he explains, means to be honest about who you are.

Giving only his initials of D.S., the 23-year-old tells how he became homeless and HIV-positive, in large part, he says, for lack of any supportive adult.

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D.S.'s parents were 13 when he was born. He bounced around among relatives until he was 16, when he was left alone in the family's Chester home. "The water was frozen in the sink, there was no electricity, the roof was collapsing, so I started moving around."

He fell in love with a man who gave him HIV, and he landed at an adult HIV clinic, where he was treated and then introduced to Ramirez, his social worker.

With Ramirez's help, he says, he has become an advocate for increased access to HIV medical care. The Q Spot, he says, gives him the chance "to meet other HIV-positive men and talk about what we're going through. . . . You need people you can relate to."