On Labor Day weekend, thousands of Black LGBTQ people travel to Atlanta to participate in Black Gay Pride in what has essentially become a Black LGBTQ national holiday.
For many of us, this singular event serves as a kind of homecoming celebration full of possibility, solidarity, intimacy, and joy.
In the midst of the myriad challenges we all face in the current moment — a global pandemic, a nationwide reckoning on racial justice, and assaults on the fabric of our democracy — spaces where we can rejuvenate and connect are vital.
But there’s another crisis at work here which Black Gay Pride can either exacerbate or help solve, and that’s the crisis of HIV/AIDS.