What prompted you to get into involved with the community at this level?
I always had a community kind of spirit, and then my dad is a former Black Panther and I kind of had that spirit. [It also was] finding out that I was a person living with HIV in 2007, and while I was working in the field, [I was] still feeling so ashamed.
What do you tell Black men when it comes to safe sex?
I just tell them to have conversations. … If we can do all of the things that we do during sex, then we should be able to have the conversation about sex.
What are some of the initiatives that you have implemented for gay Black men?
We have project RIO, which is the digital storytelling project … to educate the community to make the community more safe for people living with HIV. One of the projects that I’m most proud of is our R3 projects, which stand for reengage, retain, reduce. … We’re [asking] Black gay men living with HIV … to look into their networks and to connect their friends with us.
