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| Revelers at last year’s White Attire Affair had a gay old time. The annual event attracts visitors from around the country for a night of fun and fund-raising. (Photo courtesy of the Ummah Endowment Fund) |
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By: DWAUN SELLERS COMMENTS
 
continued...
it is a gay
event. But we have other events that are rooted in the heterosexual community.”
Only Good acknowledged that he is gay. Briggs said his sexual orientation
is irrelevant to the work he’s doing. Penn did not respond to the question.
“If we classify ourselves as a gay organization then we’re not
going to be able to [reach the entire community],” explained Good, the
treasurer for Ummah, who earned an MBA from Winthrop University in South Carolina. “When
people see our organization’s name they don’t see it as a gay organization,
they see it as an organization for people of color.”
Penn defended doing business this way in Washington, D.C., in part saying
the black community is still grappling with issues related to homosexuality.
“Do we hide or are we trying to hide the fact that we do gay events
or that some of our board members or that some of our major supporters are
gay? Not at all,” Penn said. “We realized that HIV/AIDS is impacting
the African-American community as a whole.”
What’s most important, the men said, is doing more to make sure messages
about the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS are reaching all black people in the
nation’s capital. In this effort, the men said gay men, who still are
disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS, along with heterosexual women and
youths, would not be overlooked.
“We are the new faces on this fight,” Briggs said.
White Attire Affair
Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20004
Saturday, July 19, 9 p.m.
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