Black men on 'the down low' and AIDS are scary trends
By ERNEST HOOPER
Published April 15, 2004
To me, "Keep it on the down low" was an African-American term about keeping things a secret.
It was popularized by R. Kelly's 1996 song of the same name in which he crooned about how he was having an affair with a married woman. Soon people shortened the term to "keep it on the DL," which became code for just about any kind of clandestine activity.
Forgive me for not keeping up with cultural trends, but over the years, "the down low" has come to mean something quite different. Now, the term is often used to characterize the bisexual double life led by some African-American men.
In fact, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that nearly a quarter of the black men who have sex with other men consider themselves heterosexual.
I was unaware of how the term evolved until a friend saw an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit last week that focused on the trend.
Author J.L. King explores the lifestyle in his new book, On the Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of "Straight" Black Men Who Sleep With Men, drawing largely from his personal experiences.
"I felt that there was a need for African-American women to understand that there are men who have sex with other men, who do not fit the mold of being gay or homosexual or even bisexual," King said in a CNN interview earlier this year.
"There are men who cheat on them, and never tell them the fact that they are sexually involved with men on the side of their relationships."
On Friday, Oprah Winfrey will devote her show to the topic, and we can only hope this infusion of awareness opens some eyes.
Lolita Emanuel Brown, a prevention team leader for the Tampa Bay AIDS Network, said the trend is as prevalent here as it is anywhere. In fact, one client told her he routinely travels to Fort Lauderdale to really keep things on the down low.
"It's prevalent in all races, but it's a term that came through the African-American community because we are so into this myth that African-American men can't be gay and they don't see themselves as being gay if it's a one-time thing," Brown said.
"I liked the Law and Order episode because it showed how it's crossing the lines and coming into the (lives of) heterosexual men who don't believe they're gay - men who have a wife and children and a white picket fence."
Experts say the trend has resulted in a disproportionate number of heterosexual, non drug-using African-American women contracting AIDS. Between 1999 and 2002, African-American women accounted for more than 70 percent of new HIV cases, and the number of African-American women acquiring the disease through heterosexual sex, not drug use, is on the rise.
Dr. Peter Leone, medical director of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services HIV prevention unit, recently told the New York Times, "I don't mean to sound like Chicken Little, but if we don't react to this very quickly and aggressively, it'll be like the '80s all over again. Instead of gay white men, though, we'll be dealing with large numbers of young black men and their female partners."
Overall, the AIDS rate is higher among people of color: 1-in-46 African-Americans, 1-in-176 Hispanics and 1-in-346 non-Hispanic whites carry the virus.
But Brown says regardless of color, people need to renew their vigilance. For whatever reason, the public generally seems less concerned about the virus these days. Brown said in part it's because medical advances are helping people better deal with AIDS. Still ...
"We all need to get the reality that the disease is out there," Brown said. "It's still out there and it's still killing people."
The Tampa Bay AIDS Network offers anonymous OraSure testing twice a week at its Tampa location on 7402 N 56th Street. The testing hours are 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and noon to 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays.
Brown thinks the added attention from shows like Oprah will result in a rise in testing. I hope she's right.
Frank discussions about AIDS can be scary, but sometimes we need to scare people.
That's all I'm saying.
- Ernest Hooper can be reached at 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this column.
