This article explored the religious experiences of nine Black men who are married (to a woman) and have sex with men (BMMSM). These men do not refer to themselves as men on the down low but self-identify as heterosexual. Using data collected in 2005 in South Carolina, the authors examined the complex relationship of homosexuality and the Black Church. Specifically, they examined the notion of coping with same-sex behavior, concealment, and its impact on BMMSM. Findings from the thematic analysis suggest that men found ways to manage their religious traditions and same-sex behaviors. This research presents an opportunity to locate and access a hidden population. The authors found a pervasive experience of growing up in social and family environments that expose them to heterosexism.
Adimora, A.A., Schoenbach, V.J., Martinson, F.E.A., Donaldson, K.H., Fullilove, R.E., & Aral, S.O. ( 2001). Social context of sexual relationships among rural African Americans. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 28, 69-76.
2.
Black AIDS Institute. (2008). Left behind: Black American: A neglected priority in the global AIDS epidemic. Retrieved October 8, 2008, from http://www.BlackAIDS.org
3.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ( 1999). HIV prevention within faith communities and communities of color. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
4.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ( 2008). HIV/AIDS among African Americans, fact sheet, 2007. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . Retrieved September 25, 2008, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/resources/factsheets/aa.htm
5.
Collins, P.H. ( 2004). Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender, and the new racism. New York: Routledge .
6.
Creswell, J.W. ( 1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7.
Dalton, H.L. ( 1989). AIDS in Blackface. Daedalus, 118, 205-227.
8.
D’Augelli, A.R., & Grossman, A.H. (2001). Disclosure of sexual orientation, victimization, and mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual older adults . Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16, 1008-1027.
9.
Dodge, B., Jeffries, W.L., & Sandfort, T.G.M. (2008). Beyond the down low: Sexual risk, protection, and disclosure among at-risk men who have sex with men and women (MSMW). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 37, 683-696.
10.
Douglas, K.B. ( 1999). Sexuality and the Black Church: A womanist perspective . Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
11.
Du Bois, W.E.B. ( 1907). The souls of Black folk. West Valley City, UT: Walking Lion Press.
12.
Dyson, M.E. ( 2003). Open mike: Reflections on philosophy, race, sex, culture and religion. New York: Basic Books .
13.
Fitzpatrick, L.K., Sutton, M., & Greenberg, A. ( 2006). Toward eliminating health disparities in HIV/AIDS: The importance of the minority investigator in addressing scientific gaps in Black and Latino communities. Journal of the National Medical Association , 98, 1906-1911.
14.
Ford, C.L., Whetten, K.D., Hall, S.A., Kaufman, J.S., & Thrasher, A.D. (2007). Black sexuality, social construction, and research targeting "the down low" ("the DL"). Annals of Epidemiology, 17, 209-216.
15.
Franklin, C.W. ( 1987). Surviving the institutional decimation of Black males: Causes, consequences, and intervention. In H. Brod (Ed.), The making of masculinities: The new men’s studies (pp. 160-176). Boston: Allen and Unwin.
16.
Fullilove, M.T., & Fullilove, R.E. (1997). Homosexuality in the African American church: The paradox of the "open closet." In J. Walker (Ed.), Though I stand at the door and knock: Discussions on the Black Church struggle with homosexuality and AIDS (pp. 13-18). New York: The Balm in Gilead.
17.
Fullilove, M.T., & Fullilove, R.E. (1999). Stigma as an obstacle to AIDS action. American Behavioral Scientist, 42, 1117-1129.
18.
Glenn, N.D., & Weaver, C.N. ( 1979). Attitudes toward premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations in the U.S. in the 1970s. Journal of Sex Research , 15, 108-118.
19.
Goffman, E. ( 1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Doubleday.
20.
Griffin, H. ( 2000). Their own received them not: African American lesbians and gays in Black churches. In D. Constantine-Simms (Ed.), The greatest taboo: Homosexuality in Black communities (pp. 110-112). Los Angeles: Alyson Books.
21.
Harawa, N., Williams, J., Ramamurthi, H., Manago, C., Avina, S., & Jones, M. ( 2008). Sexual behavior, sexual identity, and substance abuse among low-income bisexual and non-gay-identifying African American men who have sex with men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 37, 748-762.
22.
Haweswood, W. ( 1996). One of the children: Gay Black men in Harlem. Berkeley: University of California Press.
23.
Herek, G.M. ( 2000). The psychology of sexual prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 19-22.
24.
Herek, G.M., & Capitanio, J.P. (1995). Black heterosexuals’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in the United States. Journal of Sex Research, 32, 95-105.
25.
hooks, b. (1989). Talking back: Thinking feminist, thinking Black. Boston: South End Press.
26.
Icard, L.D. ( 2008). Reaching African-American men on the "down low": Sampling hidden populations: Implications for HIV prevention. Journal of Homosexuality, 55, 437-449.
27.
Irwin, P., & Thompson, N.L. (1977). Acceptance of the rights of homosexuals: A social profile. Journal of Homosexuality , 3, 107-121.
28.
Israel, B.A., Eng, E., Schulz, A.J., & Parker, E. ( 2005). Methods in community-based participatory research for health. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass .
29.
Jeffries, W.L., IV, Dodge, B., & Sandfort, T.G.M. (2008). Religion and spirituality among bisexual Black men in the USA. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 10, 463-477.
30.
Jenkins, M., Lambert, E., & Baker, E. ( 2009). The attitudes of Black and White college students toward gays and lesbians. Journal of Black Studies, 39, 589-613.
31.
Kennamer, J.D., Honnold, J., Bradford, J., & Hendricks, M. ( 2000). Differences in disclosure of sexuality among African American and White gay/bisexual men: Implications for HIV/AIDS prevention . AIDS Education and Prevention, 12, 519-553.
32.
King, J.L. ( 2007). On the down low: A journey into the lives of "straight" Black men who sleep with men. New York: Random House.
33.
Kraft, J.M., Beeker, C.G., Stokes, J.P., & Peterson, J.L. (2000). Finding the "community" in community-level HIV/AIDS interventions: Formative research with young African American men who have sex with men. Health Education & Behavior, 27, 430-441.
34.
Lemelle, A.J., & Battle, J. ( 2004). Black masculinity matters in attitudes toward gay males . Journal of Homosexuality, 47, 39-41.
35.
Lewis, G.B. ( 2003). Black-White differences in attitudes toward homosexuality and gay rights. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 67, 59-78.
36.
Lichtenstein, B. ( 2000). Secret encounters: Black men, bisexuality, and AIDS in Alabama. Medical Anthropology Review, 14, 373-393.
37.
Lincoln, E., & Mamiya, L. ( 1990). The Black Church in the African American experience. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
38.
Malebranche, D. ( 2005). HIV treatment series: Adverse health outcomes among Black Americans. Living with HIV: Nature or nurture? Retrieved December 16, 2009, from http://www.thebody.com/content/art950.html
39.
Malebranche, D.J., Peterson, J.L., Fullilove, R.E., & Stackhouse, R.W. (2004). Race and sexual identity: Perceptions about medical culture and health care among Black men who have sex with men. Journal of the National Medical Association , 96, 97-101.
40.
Meyer, I.H., & Northridge, M.E. (2007). The health of sexual minorities: Public health perspectives on lesbian, gay, bisexual populations. New York: Springer.
41.
Miller, R.L. ( 2005). An appointment with God: AIDS, places and spirituality . Journal of Sex Research, 42, 35-45.
42.
Miller, R.L. ( 2007). Legacy denied: African American gay men, AIDS, and the Black church. Social Work, 52(1), 51-61.
43.
Millett, G., Malebranche, D., Mason, B., & Spikes, P. ( 2005). Focusing "down low": Bisexual Black men, HIV risk and heterosexual transmission. Journal of the National Medical Association, 97, 53-55.
44.
Millett, G., Peterson, J., Wolitski, R., & Stall, R. ( 2006). Greater risk for HIV infection of Black men who have sex with men: A critical literature review. American Journal of Public Health, 96, 1007-1019.
45.
Morse, J.M., & Richards, L. ( 2002). Read me first for a user’s guide to qualitative methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
46.
Noy, C. ( 2008). Sampling knowledge: The hermeneutics of snowball sampling in qualitative research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 11, 327-344.
47.
Parker, R., & Aggleton, P. ( 2003). HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination: A conceptual framework and implications for action. Social Science & Medicine, 57, 13-24.
48.
QSR International. (2002). NVivo 2 [Computer software]. Retrieved March 4, 2008, from http://www.qsrinternational.com/
49.
Raboteau, A.J. ( 1999). A religious history of African Americans. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
50.
Seidman, S. ( 2003). Beyond the closet: The transformation of gay and lesbian life. New York: Routledge.
51.
Shields, S.A., & Harriman, R.E. (1984). Fear of male homosexuality: Cardiac responses of low and high homonegative males. Journal of Homosexuality, 10, 53-67.
52.
Taylor, S.J., & Bogdan, R. ( 1984). Introduction to qualitative research methods: The search for meanings. New York: John Wiley .
53.
Tice, D.M., & Wallace, H.M. ( 2003). The reflected self: Creating yourself as (you think) others see you. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 91-105). New York: Guilford .
54.
Waldner, L.K., Sikka, A., & Baig, S. ( 1999). Ethnicity and sex differences in university students’ knowledge of AIDS, fear of AIDS, and homophobia. Journal of Homosexuality, 37, 117-133.
55.
Ward, E.G. ( 2005). Homophobia, hypermasculinity and the US Black Church . Culture, Health & Sexuality, 7, 493-504.
56.
Washington, J.R. ( 1964). Black religion: The Negro and Christianity in the United States. Boston: Beacon Press.
57.
West, C. ( 1997). The Black Church beyond homophobia. In J. Walker (Ed.), Though I stand at the door and knock: Discussions on the Black Church struggle with homosexuality and AIDS (pp. 13-18). New York: The Balm in Gilead.
58.
Whitehead, T.L. ( 1997). Urban low-income African American/Black men, HIV/ AIDS, and gender identity. Medical Anthropology, 11, 411-447.
59.
Woodyard, J.L., Peterson, J.L., & Stokes, J.P. ( 2000). "Let us go into the house of the Lord": Participation in African American churches among young African American men who have sex with men. Journal of Pastoral Care, 54, 451-460.
