This Sunday’s Washington Post highlighted Inner Light Ministries, a Black church in Northeast Washington, D.C., in which some two-thirds of the congregation are gay:
In the middle of a sermon, Bishop Rainey Cheeks felt his medicine bottle bulging in his pocket and realized he hadn’t taken his pills. He paused in the pulpit and faced the congregation in his tiny storefront church.
“Excuse me,” Cheeks remembers telling his parishioners last year as he poured three pills into his hand. “This is my HIV medicine. I’m going to take it now.”
As he washed down the pills with water, Cheeks saw some members staring with wide eyes. Everybody knew that their pastor, an imposing man with flowing dreadlocks who once competed in taekwondo championships, is gay. But not everyone knew that he is HIV-positive.
Inner Light Ministries is providing an important sanctuary for Black gay people, who often feel rejected by both the African-American community as well as the LGBT community. The ministry also provides a vital link for those who are dealing with the additional prejudice and stigma associated with being HIV-positive. Bishop Cheeks is worried about the complacency the younger generation has about HIV/AIDS, which he sees as a dangerous mix of believing it to be “manageable” disease and believing that it’s what they deserve:
“Most messages . . . to young folk is if you’re gay or lesbian, you’re going to hell,”
said. “So why take responsibility if you’re already condemned?
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/07/27/13568#comments
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