Gracie Bonds Staples

Mar 31, 2024 | ajc.com | Gracie Bonds Staples

This week, tens of thousands are expected to converge on Atlanta to celebrate Black Pride Week, one of the largest in the country. For many gay black men, the celebration is mixed with a harsh reality. According to CDC, 1 in 2 gay black men will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their life.

Mar 31, 2024 | ajc.com | Gracie Bonds Staples

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted in 2016 that if current rates continue, one in two African-American gay and bisexual men will be infected with HIV, the virus that causes it AIDS, during their lifetime. In Atlanta, the epidemic was particularly acute. Now, it may be worse.

Mar 31, 2024 | ajc.com | Gracie Bonds Staples

In the spring of 1985, Craig Washington started to feel constant nausea. He had no appetite and he was battling a cold that wouldn’t go away. Before long, he was experiencing night sweats, swollen lymph nodes and thrush, all classic symptoms of the virus that causes AIDS. He was 25 and certain his life was about to change.

Mar 31, 2024 | ajc.com | Gracie Bonds Staples

One night in November 2014, Charles Stephens listened intently as black gay men rose to recount their stories -- some heartbreaking, some inspiring -- about homophobia, racism, HIV and other issues at an event called the Blueprint Dialogue. There was the Morehouse college senior who expressed a need for unconditional love. Small acts of affirmation, he said, would go a long way toward healing the hurt many of them felt.

Mar 31, 2024 | ajc.com | Gracie Bonds Staples

Headline: Young black men new face of HIVFor two days early last month, Daniel Driffin hunkered down at the Westin Hotel working to create ways to improve the lives of young people ages 13-24 who are living with HIV. As the 31-year-old co-founder of the non-profit THRIVE SS, this is Driffin’s life as he tries to make good on a mission to ensure black gay men no longer feel ashamed about who they are or live in isolation because they are HIV positive.