The Black Community Can't Keep Burying Its Head About AIDS

l black man in the country has caught flak for failing to throw the full weight of his office behind HIV prevention.

Black attitudes about homosexuality are indeed evolving, but they aren't changing nearly fast enough to safeguard the growing number of young black men being exposed to the virus that causes AIDS. The problem isn't the black community's alone, of course. It's a national epidemic, an American crisis in full.

But there's no denying that black communities are bearing a particularly heavy portion of this burden and, thus, have a particular obligation to step up with forceful and progressive calls for change. Straight men like me no longer have the luxury of keeping our mouths closed or treating the issue as though it has nothing to do with us. 

This is about nothing less than the future of our communities and the very existence of millions of our children, brothers, uncles and dads. Sexuality shouldn't be the issue here. This is about our survival.

As such, it's well past time for us to stop fretting so much over these young men's "lifestyles" and start caring a whole lot more about their lives.