ABSTRACT
For some time, the devastating impact of the HIV epidemic on the gay male community has been known. Yet it was not until almost 6 years into the epidemic that the research community first began disseminating statistics alerting the public to the havoc this disease would manifest among African Americans (Bakeman, McCray, Lumb, Jackson, & Whitley, 1987; Centers for Disease Control. 1987; Friedman et al., 1987; Mays & Cochran, 1987). Using the Centers for Disease Control surveillance data, at that time we estimated that there was three times the risk for AIDS in African Americans as compared to Whites (Mays & Cochran, 1987).
