LGBT Detroit Tackles Stigma, HIV Decriminalization On College Bus Tour
When LGBT Detroit kicks off their “Sex, Hooking Up, & The Apps” four-day college bus tour on March 29, they will do so in the tradition of famous Black Detroiters who boarded buses and traveled across the country decades earlier to spread a sound that defined a generation. And while this new tour may be less flashy than a Motown revue, it is no less vital to the culture.
Originally launched in 2019, this year's bus tour is the second outing for LGBT Detroit and their ongoing effort to educate Michigan’s Black LGBTQ+ population on the facts about HIV prevention, transmission, and the state’s newly reformed HIV criminalization law.
The updated Michigan law, signed by former Gov. Rick Snyder, requires the person living with HIV to tell their sexual partner their status before having vaginal or anal sex unless they are undetectable and have no intent to spread the virus. Unlike the previous law, which charged the person living with HIV with up to a 4-year felony sentence for not disclosing their status before penetration — no matter their detection.
In Michigan, like many other states across the country with HIV criminalization laws on the books, Black gay and bisexual men are disproportionately impacted by this law.
It’s a reason why former Michigan state Rep. Jon Hoadley contacted LGBT Detroit to lead the charge in educating the state about the updated bill, says Jerron Totten, Social Outreach Coordinator and Legislative Advocacy Specialist for LGBT Detroit.
“In our state, there's very little money in HIV education and prevention, but there's a ton of money in HIV care.”
- Jerron Totten
“They said, ‘Name your price.’ Those were their exact words,” said Totten, referring to a conversation between LGBT Detroit leadership and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). “And we said, say less.”
In December 2021, LGBT Detroit was awarded its single largest grant by MDHHS to deliver a $294,000 multi-pronged campaign against HIV stigma in the Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ community, along with an additional $36,344 grant from the Detroit Department of Health.
“When Jon Hoadley asked us to educate the state, he didn't just stop there,” Totten says. “He set up a meeting with me and every single member of the governor's cabinet to see who would fund whatever idea we came up with. And we came up with an idea of a tour inspired by the Motown bus tours.”
In 2019, LGBT Detroit traveled to five cities across the state—Flint, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Ypsilanti. According to Totten, these cities were selected and prioritized because of their large LGBTQ+ populations and higher prevalence of new HIV acquisitions. LGBT Detroit provided basic HIV training and tested the knowledge of participants on the tour. Totten says what he discovered was shocking.
“People did not know. It was shocking how little people knew about the virus, and there's a reason behind that,” Totten says. “In our state, I don't know how it is in other states, but in our state, there's very little money in HIV education and prevention, but there's a ton of money in HIV care. So essentially, I have to get infected for there to be some kind of action or care around my situation. And so, that's definitely some of what we want to change.”
Casting A Wide Net
This year, the tour will make stops at the University of Michigan-Dearborn (March 29), Wayne State University (March 30), and College of Creative Studies (April 1). A community night is scheduled for March 31st.
“The thing about colleges is that you have students from all over, even outside of Michigan,” Totten says. “And so being able to provide education, not just on HIV-related things, but just about this particular [HIV criminalization] law—because you're coming to Michigan, you should understand Michigan laws as a non-resident.”
LGBT Detroit has selected Black LGBTQ+ leaders from communities across the country to serve as panelists on the new bus tour. Dionta Brown (Detroit, MI), Mykell Price (Detroit, MI), Tony Christon-Walker (Birmingham, AL), Sir S’ango Onyx (Baltimore, MD) and Michael Ward (Atlanta, GA), host of “Revolutionary Health” on CNPTV, will embark on the four-day tour to share their perspective as HIV educators, and for some panelists, their experience living with HIV.
“This tour is me moving beyond the camera on Revolutionary Health, where I’ve hosted amazing advocates that do this work daily. Now, I’m contributing my voice to say HIV is not a crime,” Ward says.
“For me, this is an opportunity to discuss how these laws have an impact on how we view and treat people living with HIV, the consequences of these laws, and how I can offer support to modernize or at best end them,” he adds.
“For me, this is an opportunity to discuss how these laws have an impact on how we view and treat people living with HIV, the consequences of these laws, and how I can offer support to modernize or at best end them.”
- Michael Ward
Totten tells The Reckoning that panelists will engage attendees in dialogue from pre-written thought-provoking questions meant to inform, titillate, and correct misinformation about HIV.
“I'd rather you learn from an organization like LGBT Detroit than from the wrong group of people and end up getting hurt, getting infected with something that you can't get rid of, or getting infected with anything because you didn't assess the risk correctly,” he said.
“One of the things that I did make these colleges aware of is that it's not just for Black gay men,” says Totten. “These voices are centered because Black gay men have been disproportionately impacted by this law. But this is for everybody because everybody's having sex.”
In a press release, Curtis Lipscomb, Executive Director of LGBT Detroit, spoke to the significance of the 2022 bus tour.
“Not only are we dismantling erroneous stigmas about HIV, but we are doing this while speaking to a broader audience to circulate a positive, healthier way of living,” Lipscomb says. “Our partner not only saw the vision but trusted us to deliver something educational and long-standing in our community. This college tour specifically speaks true to this.”
Totten says he hopes the individuals who need to receive what they'll be sharing on tour aren’t limited to only students.
“There's a registration link that each school has, and they're free to send out that registration link to whomever they deem necessary that they will allow on their campus,” he said. “And so, I told him to cast their nets wide because this is a program for everybody.”
