Watching people be shunned for their "otherness," every one of us begins to feel a little doubt about ourselves. You may want to deny that part of yourself that doesn't measure up, and not speak up. If we are serious about stopping AIDS, we have to end the silence and stigma around homosexuality—and in the process rethink our beliefs about what it means to be Black and male in America.

In the Fight of Our Lives: Notes on the AIDS Crisis in the Black Community [2002]