We Were Here - A Documentary

This evening, the boyfriend and I - and many of our friends - attended a local "We Were Here" movie premiere at the NARO Cinema on Colley Avenue in Norfolk's Ghent neighborhood. For readers, I strongly recommend that if the movie becomes available where you live, go and see it. A trailer for the movie, which is apparently on a limited release is set out below. I found the movie both moving and most likely very informative for younger members of the LGBT community who did not witness the pandemic of the 1980's and first half of the 1990's. The movie was followed by a short panel presentation by personnel from ACESS AIDS Care, the largest local provider of services to those dealing with HIV/AIDS. The movie stuck me in many ways, but among the most notable were (1) the fact that things have gotten better, although HIV/AIDS continues to be a dire problem - in this area 70% of the new infections are in black males under 25 and another 20% is among young heterosexuals - and (2) the charitable works by care givers in the movie show true Christian behavior, if you will, in contrast to the hate, hypocrisy and perversion of the Gospel message that is the norm among the "pro-family" and "godly Christian" crowd. That hypocrisy applies ten fold in terms of local black churches which continue to be one of the biggest obstacles to stopping HIV transmission in the black community.

Interestingly enough, GLAAD has a new piece out that lays responsibility at the feet of black churches for difficulty in stopping new infections. Here are some highlights:

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day, the international event to strengthen global efforts in the fight against HIV and AIDS. While the statistics in the Black community are daunting (in 2009 African Americans made up only 14 percent of the U.S. population and accounted for more than 44 percent of new infections), there is hope.

Researchers conducted interviews and focus groups at churches in predominately Black neighborhoods in NYC. . . . None reported specifically responding to the crisis among Black gay and bisexual men. Data revealed three prominent themes which might help explain the lack of LGBT-focused mobilization efforts:

1) ‘Love the sinner, hate the sin’ – The belief that behavior can be distinguished and separated from identity.
2) ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ – The belief that identities and behaviors should be kept private.
3) ‘Your body is a temple’ – The belief that spiritual and physical health are interconnected.

The data suggests that the body-spirit connection was often used by pastors and parishioners as way to promote or discourage being straight or gay, as opposed to a way to reduce HIV risk and promote prevention.

In conclusion, the report found that while the ‘Love the sinner, hate the sin’ and ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ ideologies represent challenges to community-level prevention, the ‘Your body is a temple’ ideology represents a missed opportunity for church-based efforts to prevent HIV among Black gay and bisexual men. The link between spiritual and physical health can be used for HIV prevention/condom promotion and to promote self-care as an act of Christian devotion.

The real irony is that in many areas it is the white, liberal members of the LGBT community who are providing the funding and many of the volunteer hours to serve members of the black community who have been largely discarded by black churches who all too often allow themselves to used as water carriers for white Christianist organization which are one step removed from white supremacist organizations. That's clearly the pattern here in Virginia.