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By KERRY ELEVELD
Monday, August 28, 2006
The Black Gay Network (BGN) launched an ad campaign last week targeted at preventing HIV/AIDS through combatting homophobia in the African-American community. BGN unveiled a massive billboard at the corner of 125th and Broadway depicting black gay men with family members and a message that read, "I am gay, and this is where I stay."
"We really wanted to impact the self-esteem and the resiliency of black gay men to combat the HIV epidemic," said Mark McLaurin, executive director of BGN, a coalition of 16 community-based organizations that serve black gay men across the state.
The campaign shows African-American men in two other settings: at church with the message, "I am gay, and this is where I pray," and on the basketball court with the tag line, "I am gay, and this is where I play."
Beyond the billboard, ad placement consists of about 300 posters at subway platforms in predominately black communities such as Harlem, Bed-Stuy, Jamaica, Brownsville and East New York. The ad campaign cost about $150,000 to generate, which was funded by a larger $350,000 grant from the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene.
McLaurin said the idea arose out of series of focus groups BGN conducted about HIV/AIDS prevention. "The thing that came up over and over again was the homophobia in the African-American community," he said. "The sense that [black men] were forever having to demonstrate their blackness because they were gay, or demonstrate their authenticity to the larger community."
BGN decided to gear an ad campaign toward the greater community to spark conversation and address some of the barriers to generating greater self-esteem in gay African American men.
"In black gay men and HIV prevention, there are so many other issues that rush in before you deal with that moment in time when you’re making the decision about whether to be safe or not," he said.
McLaurin also said black gay men have tuned out messages about HIV and AIDS because of being saturated with so many negative messages about being on the "down low"— a colloquialism that evolved to describe black men who have sex with men but aren’t out.
"The ‘down low’ was only of an interest in as much as it represented a bridge to HIV infection in women," he said. "If you’re doing HIV and AIDS prevention, if you lead with that you’re losing many of the people that you need the most," he added.
McLaurin said the campaign has generated a lot of interest and they hope to extend it beyond the initial buy of 30 days.
At least 1.5 to 2 million people are expected to see the ads. U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer all joined BGN at the unveiling.
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