Reply #17: BronxBoy, I agree with nearly everything you said. Being AA, and

[Tarheel_Dem]

having grown up in a Pentecostal household, I can so relate to the secrecy & the ostracization surrounding the issue of homosexuality. Being mocked and told to "act like a man", by the very same straight male relatives who have taken advantage of you in a very innapropriate way. I also agree that this is the reason for the continued escalation of HIV/AIDS in the black community. We have reached crisis level in our community because the church refuses to address these issues in a significant way.

Church people need to know that you can't just pray away the gay, and you can't shame someone into heterosexuality; it just doesn't work that way. I gave up trying to educate relatives on this issue, and it's caused me to have to distance myself from the people I love. I have lost a number of relatives to the disease, who suffered in silence, and didn't want anyone to know. That should never happen in a family, and it should never be allowed to happen in this country.