A groundbreaking sexual health campaign by black men, for black men.

Photos by Luxxxer

Me Him Us is the groundbreaking sexual health campaign by black men, for black men. We’re in the RVT and Kylie’s blasting out of the speakers. Sounds like a normal Saturday night! But it’s not a Saturday night, it’s Wednesday morning. The inhospitable time of 10am.

Drag performer Son Of A Tutu storms in, somehow simultaneously regal and exhausted. “What time do you call this?!” she says, winking as she adjusts an eyelash. She’s closely followed by musclebound model slash primary school teacher Darren, and sexual health expert Phil.

We’re here to do a shoot in honour of sexual health charity GMFA’s groundbreaking new campaign, “Me. Him. Us.” It’s by black men, for black men. Even now in 2018, black gay men are still woefully underrepresented in the sexual health sector. And while HIV diagnoses are falling among London’s gay community as a whole, new diagnosis rates among black gay men are still on the rise.

There are many reasons behind this, but lack of visibility and representation are certainly contributing factors. GMFA’s Me Him Us is aiming to change this.

We spoke to one of the faces of the campaign, and one of its main founders, Philip Samba (bottom right) to find out more.

So there are currently no other sexual health campaigns that feature just two black guys. Why do you think that is?

Someone said to me, ‘How often in do you see two black guys depicted just being nice to each other?’ And the fact that I couldn’t think of anything really surprised me. But it just proves how much we need to push things like that. There needs to be more diversity. Especially with public health campaigns, it tends to be interracial couples, or a black guy by himself. You don’t ever see two black men.

Well that’s why the Me Him Us is so important and impactful.

That’s why it took off. Because it was something people had never seen before. But it’s 2018! We shouldn’t be so surprised to see two black men at the forefront of a national health campaign.

It’s crazy how STILL NOW, it’s so rare.

Well there’s the issue of us not being visible enough. But there’s also the issue of people not wanting to be visible. But it’s a vicious cycle – because we’re not put out there, people don’t WANT to be put out there.

And I guess it’s difficult, because you can’t force people to take part in stuff if they don’t want to.

For this campaign, it was a struggle to find people. We were going to cast people. And then I decided to be in it, which made it easier to get other people involved.

sexual health black menOnce there’s one person involved, it encourages other people…

Exactly. And they realised how important the campaign is. It went to France, Germany and Italy. Italy was the most surprising, because it’s still quite homophobic and racist in some areas.

So the campaign’s been going for just over a month. What’s the response been like?

Mostly positive! Someone complained that there wasn’t an interracial couple. He said interracial couples aim to close the gap of racial segregation in the gay community. And he said black families don’t accept white gay men in their culture. He was trying to spin it that way. And he was black! But it’s a campaign by black men, for black men. That’s the whole point.

There’s always one.

I thought it’d be worse though to be honest! What I found surprising was that a lot of straight black men…they’re not against it. They’re not overly supportive or anything, but they’re not against it. I think we’re coming to a point where the black community is becoming more accepting of homosexuality, and the LGBT community in general. And that’s globally. We’re slowly coming around to it.

Why do you think that is?

People are starting to realise that it’s more than just sex. That’s what the issue is. Both in and out of the black community, being gay has been thought of as just the act of sex. They don’t think about intimacy, relationships, love or anything like that. But I think people are starting to realise that’s wrong.

It’s also a lot more visible in pop culture these days – and more aspects of gay life are represented.

Yeah, it’s more common and it’s seen more. Another problem is that some of the black community see being gay as a white thing. So if you’re gay, it’s like you’re choosing to be like white people. That’s the mentality some people have. I saw a documentary called Tongues Untied, that came out in 1989 – so before I was born – and it’s based on gay black men in New York in the 1980s. And they were complaining about the same issues that we have today. Which is heteronormative white society and how there’s not enough visbility and representation. I was watching it thinking “how did this come out before I was born? We still have the same issues, nearly thirty years later.”

So the campaign is not just to encourage diversity but also testing…do gay black men get tested less than other gay men?

We get tested less often. Rates of HIV within gay black men have been going up, year on year, for over a decade. We don’t tested often, or sometimes not at all. So when we DO get tested, if we have HIV, it tends to be quite late on. So late diagnoses are an issue. By then our immune systems are badly damaged. The campaign is to encourage regular testing. Also, most men who get diagnosed with HIV have usually had a negative result in the past. So they get tested, think “good, I’m negative” and they think that’s it. So that’s something that needs to be worked on.

Why do you think this is happening specifically within the black community?

I think a lot of the problem is men who aren’t out so they don’t have conversations about sexual health. And a guy might download Grindr, hook up with someone, delete the app, and then just not talk about it, not think about it, and not get tested.

What do you want this campaign to achieve?

I want to get as many different people involved as possible. Because if people see themselves, they’ll be more likely to test. Also, some white gay men may not understand the issues we go through. And this might make them more understanding. It’s evidence that we exist.

For more information on GMFA’s Me Him Us campaign, head to gmfa.org.uk

Does the Gay Community Fetishize Black Men?

Advertisement