By Ove Overmyer
A thriving community of young men of color who have sex with men (YMCSM) lives within the city of Rochester and Monroe County area.

This community is made up of vibrant, culturally diverse, talented people who come from various religious, geographic and socio-economic backgrounds. They exhibit a variety of gender expressions and sexual identities. However, there is one thing they very much have in common: they have been identified as one of the highest risk groups for HIV infection in New York State.

According to a 2008 published report by the Rochester Area Task Force on AIDS, as of 2006 approximately 24 percent of new HIV diagnoses occurred in youth and young adults aged 13-24 and approximately 20 percent were ages 25-29. In the same report, in 2005, almost 26 percent and 13 percent of all new infections occurred among African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos respectively.

An international response to this epidemic has elicited a number of health seminars, peer reviews and modification strategies targeting YMCSM. At the same time, most local health organizations agree that the challenges of reducing HIV infection rates among this population are extremely complex, given the connection between one’s self-worth and the social networks that influence behaviors.

Additionally, federal funding has traditionally not been very good for health care providers who service and monitor LGBTQ youth.

Some Rochester area medical and health care workers wanted more accurate and relevant information on the causal factors of HIV and STDs. To further define and address these local needs, MOCHA’s MPowerment program conducted its own LGBTQ Youth Community Health Forum during its annual event week in August of 2008.

MOCHA Center is a health and wellness-focused agency committed to a systemic approach in the delivery of services around HIV issues. As a result of the report, which took six months to complete, health care providers and social service agencies now have access to a document that helps shine a bright light on a topic and a population that have been underserved, misrepresented and disrespected for decades.

Report creates foundation of knowledge
In March of this year, Stephaun Clipper, MOCHA Prevention Programs Manager, and Damon Humes, executive director of MOCHA Center, published a narrative fact sheet about what they learned about our local LGBTQ youth.

Clipper and Humes interpreted data on HIV in the Ballroom Community, discussed healthy LGBTQ relationships, talked condom use, investigated and explored heterosexism and homophobia and exchanged information through collaborations with their own Youth Advisory Board and other social service community groups, like the Gay Alliance.

In an interview with The Empty Closet, Clipper was quick to deflect some credit from himself, saying that other MOCHA staff people were involved in the making of the summary report.

The report, “Positive Health Promotion & Community Engagement for LGBTQ Youth of Color,” states that sexual and social identities are impacted by at least three socially oppressive forces — homophobia, poverty and racism.

Together, they produce a heightened risk of HIV infection by increasing social isolation, alienation and stigma. Like many traditionally oppressed groups, YMCSM often find themselves clashing with the dominant white, heterosexual culture that seeks to place unrealistic social, cultural, sexual, religious and political expectations on them. The LGBTQ Youth Health Forum focus was also to identify at-risk behaviors among transgender populations and the impact of racism, sexism and homophobia on prevention strategies.

Erik Libey, LGBT Health Coordinator at AIDS Rochester, says the report developed by MOCHA deserves everyone’s attention. “It’s important to understand that this information is crucial to our youth community. There are many people that do not even acknowledge the existence of HIV in our LGBTQ youth,” said Libey.

However, Libey also says that the faith community is slowly coming around and are trying to address the HIV component, but neglecting the LGBTQ identity issue. He calls this a very important distinction.

HIV infections still on the rise for LGBTQ youth
Clipper believes that poverty, unsafe schools, limited access to quality health care, distrust of governmental systems, homophobia and the lack of support at work and places of worship contribute to this alarming social phenomenon.

“The mental health piece is very troubling, especially for the transgender community,” said Clipper. “The mental health of LGBTQ people of color is directly connected to this community’s capacity to engage in healthy sexual behaviors and health related services. LGBTQ people of color, especially youth, are 10 times more likely to attempt suicide and suffer depression. This increases the likelihood of drug abuse, attempting or committing suicide, or engaging in unsafe sexual practices,” he said.

Additionally, Clipper reports that commercial sex work is a strategy for many local transgender youth, especially people of color. “They are already discriminated against in the workplace and educational settings. Through horrific experiences of being assaulted, robbed, battered and otherwise mistreated, this group tends to exhibit an unhealthy self-image, which in many cases leads them towards commercial sex work as means to survive,” Clipper says.

MOCHA working hard to build bridges
Damon Humes became the executive director for the MOCHA Center in December of 2007. Humes, 33, was born in Washington D.C. and raised in the Philadelphia area. In a March 2008 interview with The Empty Closet, Humes said his priority would be to increase community participation into planning processes of the organization.

For more than 11 years, Humes has worked to serve the public health and policy needs of communities of color both locally and nationally. He received a community leadership citation from former Mayor John Street of Philadelphia for positively impacting the sexual and drug-abuse behavior of at-risk youth of color, as well as the Jon Michael Harrington Humanitarian Award from the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City.

Born in the city of Los Angeles, Stephaun Clipper was first the MPowerment Coordinator at MOCHA and is now Prevention Programs Manager. He moved to Rochester after working for AIDS Atlanta as a community building specialist and training coordinator.

Clipper is CDC certified to train HIV service providers in HIV prevention counseling. He is well-travelled, street smart, sophisticated and well educated. He has lived in Arizona, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, D.C. and Virginia before moving to Rochester in the summer of 2008. He says he hopes the kids that he works with, especially in the Ballroom Community, look up to him as a role model and mentor. “I take that role very seriously,” he said.

Now that Clipper understands the local community much better, he is uniquely poised to do something about it. “When you get right down to it, some people may get a little pissed at me,” he said with a wry smile. “Right now we have a lot of work to do to bridge race relations within the greater community and among the faith-based communities of color. We need to keep the conversation going — we need to dialogue about our LGBTQ youth and I’m afraid there are some people out there who are afraid to have that talk,” he said.

The next step
“I want everyone to know that the Mocha Center is a welcoming and inclusive place,” says Clipper. “Part of our mission is to take what we know and educate and involve key political figures, healthcare professionals, social service providers and advocates of LGBTQ youth to understand our issues and become our allies.”

The findings of MOCHA’s report emphasize the need to increase HIV/STD awareness and education within this target population. Many of the local youth surveyed had misinformation about the transmission of HIV. Clipper says that the delivery of safer sex messages that are culturally sensitive and ones that “translate well” are critical to combating infection.

Clipper, who is also a U.S. Army veteran, says that many LGBTQ youth express gender identity, sexual roles and sexuality in a much more fluid way than current labels can accurately describe. When social service agencies reach out to this population, they must recognize that. “It is essential that LGBTQ people are included in the development of materials so they see themselves reflected in the messages and know that it is specifically intended for them,” he says.

Additionally, the report stresses that the various intersections of sexual orientation, gender, class, race, and immigration status often do not operate as distinct realities. They may serve to amplify the impact of power and privilege on risks for gay men, particularly gay men of color.

The Mocha Center welcomes direct feedback from the community and its program participants. The key findings of the 2009 report will help shape prevention services and other programming the agency provides for its clients.

For a copy of the report, please e-mail info@mochaproject.org or e-mail Stephaun Clipper at sclipper@mochaproject.org.