PHS and Minneapolis Urban League

PHS and Minneapolis Urban League partner to study the sexual behavior of African-American men who have sex with men

PHS partnered with the Minneapolis Urban League in a recent study titled B4Real/MN Community PROMISE which examined the sexual behavior of African-American men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. Study results and a panel discussion were presented to the community on April 21, 2008 at the Urban League in Minneapolis.

Launched in 2004, the study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS by encouraging African American MSM to use condoms and practice other safe sexual behaviors. African-American MSM have the highest rates of HIV infection in the United States, and many of these men do not know they are infected and are not getting the medical treatment needed to control their infection.

Of the 384 men interviewed for the study, almost half of the participants had one main or steady sex partner (43 percent), the majority of whom were male (61 percent). Sixty-four percent of participants had sex without a condom in the last six months. And, of the 174 HIV-positive study participants, just 49 percent told their male sex partners they were HIV-positive, while only 30 percent told their female partners.

“With new medications, individuals with HIV are living longer, healthier lives and therefore are able to have quality sex lives as well. We want to help them do so safely,” said Bean Robinson, PhD, associate professor in the Medical School and co-investigator of the Minneapolis-St. Paul cohort. She continued, “Because HIV infection rates are so high among the African-American community of men who have sex with men, it is important to talk about sexual behavior and HIV disclosure and bring it all out of the closet,”

Many of the study participants said that they have faced discrimination and almost half (42 percent) agreed that the African-American community would not accept a successful man if they found out he had sex with men.

The Community Promise Program at the Urban League will continue to reach out to community members through friends and family using the personal stories to encourage safer sex practices for African-American MSM throughout the Twin Cities.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul study included 384 men from the metro area who said they had sex with a man in the last three years. Participants were HIV-positive and HIV-negative and ranged in age from 18 to 61 years. Other cities participating in the study included Boston, El Paso, New Orleans, and New York.