by Lester Strong

As I listened to the media stories about the down low over the past year, I was really disappointed with the coverage and lack of in-depth reporting. I wanted to write something that would go beneath the surface. I wanted to explore the question of whether men on the down low were really responsible for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the black community.

These words opened a recent interview with Keith Boykin, author of Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America, the latest contribution to the ongoing debate among African-Americans about the part men on the down low play in what is perceived by many as a skyrocketing HIV infection rate among black women. Published by Carroll & Graf, and already available in bookstores nationwide, the book examines and challenges most of the assumptions built into the media hype surrounding the down low and its connection to HIV transmission.

As popularized since 2001 in magazine and newspaper articles around the country, and especially by author and speaker J.L. King (A&U, August 2004) in his book On the Down Low: A Journey into the Lives of “Straight” Black Men Who Sleep with Men, the term “down low”—often simply abbreviated “DL”—is commonly used to refer to non-gay-identified men in relationships with women who also have sex with other men. King’s book itself is in part an autobiographical account of his own DL behavior, as well as an analysis of the phenomenon based on his research into the lives of other men on the DL. It is King, through speaking engagements around the country—including a TV appearance on Oprah—and his book, who has catalyzed much of the discussion about the connection between the DL and HIV transmission.

It’s not surprising that Boykin approaches the topic from a different perspective. A graduate of Dartmouth and Harvard Law School, he is the author of two previous books, One More River to Cross: Black & Gay in America, and the Lambda Literary Award-winning Respecting the Soul: Daily Reflections for Black Lesbians and Gays. He was a Special Assistant to the President in the Clinton White House, and last fall was a contestant on Showtime’s reality series American Candidate. Currently he is president of the National Black Justice Coalition, an organization of black lesbians and gay men that, in Boykin’s words, works to “build bridges between the mainstream African-American community and the black lesbian/gay/transgender community.” He thus writes about the down low as an openly gay man who himself has never been on the down low and as a political activist long accustomed to dealing with socially and politically divisive issues like homophobia, racism, and AIDS.

And, according to Boykin, make no mistake: Linking down low behavior to HIV transmission has created a great deal of divisiveness—a view shared by others in the African-American community. It is endorsed by novelist E. Lynn Harris (A&U, August 2002), for example, who in his Foreword to Beyond the Down Low describes Boykin’s analysis as a “timely and necessary” critique of a discussion that has sparked much finger-pointing among African-Americans. Harris also endorses Boykin’s proposals aimed at solving the problem. “Rather than blaming black men or black women” for the health crisis caused by AIDS, he writes in the Foreword, “Keith offers a smart, thoughtful approach that suggests we try to move beyond fear to find ways to love ourselves and love one another.”

The book does talk about the need for love as a way of meeting head-on and helping to heal the emotional anguish caused by AIDS. But as its subtitle suggests—Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America—its primary aim is to itself confront head-on the problematic attitudes among much of the African-American community that Boykin argues seriously damage black America’s ability to cope effectively with the medical and social issues posed by AIDS. Mincing no words, he writes in the first chapter of the book:

America’s recent obsession with the down low is not about the truth. It is about avoiding the truth. The truth is, more than a generation after the so-called sexual revolution and decades after the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, we are still a nation in deep denial about sex, race, and relationships. In black America, with the all-too-willing assistance of white America, we are still afraid to hear, understand, and process the truth. And as a nation, we would rather talk about the down low than talk candidly about racism, homophobia, and AIDS, and about our collective responsibility to find solutions for these problems.

So what is the truth about the down low as Boykin sees it? How is it used to avoid a candid discussion of racism, homophobia, and AIDS?

For starters, according to Boykin, there’s the problem of defining the term. It’s not that there’s no definition—it’s that there are too many. Or perhaps we should say there are different assumptions built into the term depending on who is using it. In his book, Boykin lists five basic traits describing those on the DL as commonly used in the media: black, male, HIV-positive, in relationships with women, and secretly having sex with other men. But there are variations. As he explained in the interview: “For black gay and bisexual men, saying they’re on the down low can be a way of asserting a hypersexual form of masculinity—you know: ‘I sleep with both men and women.’ For black women who are straight, it’s oftentimes used as an explanation for why so many of them have been infected with HIV. For white people, it can be an expression of their view that black people are hypersexual. For straight people, it can be an expression of their view that gay men are hypersexual. I’ve heard white men describe themselves as on the down low, and I’ve heard gay men who aren’t and never will be in sexual relationships with women use the term to mean they consider their sexuality ‘unclockable’—in other words, no one can detect their sexual orientation if they don’t choose to disclose it.”

The trouble with such slippery terminology, of course, is that people tend to feed into it what they want to feed into it to meet their own needs. The result, often enough, is heated emotional exchanges that can lead to the blame game, with no real dialogue taking place about the underlying issues. In turn, a lack of dialogue can have its own consequences—misperceptions being reinforced rather than dispelled, for example, or energy being squandered fighting the wrong fight.

In his book, Boykin describes America’s obsession with the down low as fertile ground for such misunderstandings and problems. Once again mincing no words, he lists “seven deadly lies” and “thirteen myths” which are generated by that obsession:

• Lies: (1) Everyone agrees on what the down low is; (2) the down low is a new phenomenon; (3) it’s about bisexual men; (4) it’s primarily a black phenomenon; (5) it’s of concern because of AIDS; (6) there are signs indicating if someone is on the down low; (7) the way to solve the problem is by demonizing men on the down low.
• Myths: (1) Blacks don’t know as much about AIDS as whites; (2) blacks are less likely to go for HIV testing; (3) more African-American women today are getting AIDS than earlier in the epidemic; (4) black women constitute two-thirds of all new AIDS cases in the U.S.; (5) African-American women are the fastest growing group of people infected with HIV; (6) African-American women who are infected tend to be in monogamous relationships; (7) most women whose men are having sex outside the relationship don’t know about it; (8) African-American men on the down low are likely to be HIV-positive; (9) African-American men who have AIDS are usually on the down low; (10) bisexual men are more likely to have unsafe sex than gay men; (11) black bisexual men are more likely to lie about their bisexuality than white bisexual men; (12) African-American gay and bisexual men don’t practice safe sex; (13) African-American men on the down low are responsible for the black AIDS epidemic in this country.

Tracing the history of the down low in popular culture to show that it is by no means a new phenomenon that sprang up concurrent with AIDS, and citing data from the Centers for Disease Control to disprove some of the above assertions or the lack of research needed to support others, he concludes:

So much of the information we’ve been told about the AIDS epidemic in the black community is just not accurate. And much of our hysteria about the down low has been rooted in this misinformation. Now that we know the truth behind the facts and the statistics, it’s time to think about the issues that led us here in the first place. It’s time to think about sexism, racism, homophobia, and classism…. It’s time to move beyond the down low.

Asked during the interview to state the factors he thinks are actually responsible for the transmission of AIDS into the African-American community, Boykin answered: “Sex and intravenous drug use. I’m sure ninety-nine percent of the HIV/AIDS cases come from those two routes. That’s where most of HIV/AIDS cases come from in any community. The question is: How much of it is because of sex, and how much because of drug use? And in regard to sex, what types of behavior are encouraging transmission?”

Asked to name the kinds of sexual behavior that might be encouraging the transmission of HIV in the black community, Boykin replied: “Let’s talk about the transmission of HIV to heterosexual black women. The CDC says heterosexual sex is the overwhelming transmission route for black women infected with HIV. Given the connection between AIDS and gay men, people seem to assume that this heterosexual route involves down low behavior on the part of the husbands or boyfriends the women are sleeping with. There have even been newspaper reports saying the CDC has connected black men on the down low to the rise in HIV infection rates among black women. But that’s an incredible leap, unjustified by the evidence. As I explain in the book, the CDC has never made this claim because no one has ever done any research on the topic. I don’t deny that men who have transmitted the virus to women could have been on the down low. But maybe they were open with the women about their sexuality. Maybe they contracted the virus from heterosexual sex. Maybe they were IV drug users who contracted it by sharing dirty needles, or ex-cons who contracted it in prison. There are a number of possible scenarios having nothing to do with the down low that could contribute to the transmission of HIV by black men to their women partners, but they aren’t talked about by the media.”

 Asked why those possible routes are ignored, Boykin said: “Because they’re not sexy enough. They don’t hype TV ratings or push newspaper and magazine sales.”

And, finally, asked during the interview to move “beyond the down low” himself and describe what he thinks needs to be done about the HIV/AIDS crisis in the African-American community, Boykin replied: “It’s not very sexy, and it involves some hard work. First, let’s stop blaming people. Telling someone ‘You infected me! You did something wrong to me!’ doesn’t help, even if it’s true. Demonizing men on the down low and telling them they’re responsible for the HIV/AIDS epidemic doesn’t help. Anyone with HIV was infected by someone else and is a victim in that sense. The real point is to take responsibility for our own behavior so we don’t become victims ourselves.

“Taking responsibility has a personal and a public side. In terms of the personal side, the Kaiser Foundation did a study in August 2004 that found almost universal adult knowledge about the primary mechanisms of HIV transmission. If we choose to have unprotected sex, we’re putting ourselves at risk. If we choose to have unprotected sex with someone whose HIV status we don’t know, we’re definitely putting ourselves at risk. We need to talk openly and candidly with our sexual partners about the subject and take the appropriate action to protect ourselves. We shouldn’t blame others for our own decisions or lack of them.

“In the public sphere, we need to separate moralizing from public policy. Churches and politicians need to stop preaching homophobia and start teaching love and acceptance of lesbians, gay men, and transgendered people. That in itself could help end down low behavior. Churches should understand that many gay people attend their services and that their members are having sex no matter what their marital status or sexual orientation. They should put out bowls of condoms to encourage their use. Politicians should acknowledge the research showing that supplying clean needles to addicts doesn’t promote greater IV drug use and start supporting needle exchange programs. They should acknowledge that in our prisons same-sex inmates are having sex with each other and supply condoms for protection. They should repeal the so-called HIV transmission laws in place in many states that penalize anyone who knowingly transmits the virus because such laws just encourage lying about one’s HIV status and discourage HIV testing.

“We may not know how to cure AIDS, but we sure know how to stop the transmission of HIV. If we’d stop lying to ourselves and denying the facts we know about AIDS, we could go a long way toward ending this epidemic, at least in this country. Martin Luther King once said something to the effect that ‘Nothing pains some people more than having to think.’ But if we don’t do some hard thinking about AIDS and our own responsibility in this crisis, a bad situation is only going to get worse. The demon we need to fight is AIDS, not each other.”

Log on to www.keithboykin.com for more information and Keith Boykin’s other writings.

Lester Strong is Special Projects Editor of A&U.