Sharpton launches
initiative to fight homophobia and AIDS in black
communities

The Reverend Al Sharpton this week announced that he plans to launch an initiative to fight homophobia in African-American communities, which he says has undoubtedly played a role in HIV's rapid spread among African-Americans, reports The New York Sun. The initiative--being organized by Marjorie Fields Harris, executive director of Sharpton's civil rights organization National Action Network--will consist of forums and conferences at schools and churches aimed at educating African-Americans about HIV and the dangers of homophobia. Sharpton also plans to launch public service announcements on radio stations that have large African-American audiences and to make fighting homophobia a key part of his civil rights work in the coming year.

AIDS activists say Sharpton's efforts are particularly needed in African-American churches, which have been slow to address HIV and rarely address homophobia. "Black churches have not stepped up to the plate on HIV as they have historically stepped up to the plate on other issues," Phill Wilson, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Black AIDS Institute, told the Sun. "We should be celebrating the humanity in all of us, rather than diminishing the humanity in some of us."