Dec 10, 2004  |  By: RYAN LEE  | COMMENTS     

The truth about black sexuality in general is even more undercover than black men who have sex with men “on the down low” due to recent media misinformation, charges gay rights activist Keith Boykin in his upcoming book, “Beyond the Down Low: Sex and Denial in Black America.”

Set for release in February 2005, Boykin’s book charges that African Americans have long avoided having honest conversations about issues like fidelity, the existence of black gay men and lesbians, and taking individual responsibility for protection against HIV.

Instead of addressing those issues, black adults — aided by what Boykin describes as a sensationalistic media — have recently focused their ire over rising HIV rates among black women on black men on “the down low,” widely perceived as men with wives or girlfriends who secretly have sex with men.

A deluge of media coverage over the last two years cites men on the down low as the primary cause of disproportionate HIV rates among African-American women. That presumption has become prevalent despite the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s insistence that data on the down low is hard to come by and a clear definition of the “DL” is non-existent.

“It’s very frustrating when you read the newspapers day after day and you see the same old bullshit being printed about the down low, and it’s all wrong — everything you think you know about the down low is wrong,” says Boykin, board president of the National Black Justice Coalition, a group that advocates legalizing marriage between same-sex couples.

Boykin also takes aim at J.L. King, author of the 2004 book “On the Down Low,” which warns black women that men on the down low are an ominous threat. Boykin places much of the blame for misconceptions about black men who have sex with men on the widespread media attention King receives as a so-called “expert,” due to his years of personal experience leading a sexual double life.

King’s book took flight with his high-profile appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and the talk show of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), as well as interviews with New York Times Magazine, Sister 2 Sister magazine and many other outlets.

A friend first introduced King to Boykin in 2001 as an “ill-informed black gay man masquerading on the down low,” Boykin says.

Boykin charges in “Beyond the Down Low” that King’s book is a ball of contradictions and that King bounces from interview to interview spreading misinformation about HIV and black sexuality for his own financial gain.

“One person’s life story, which really isn’t that credible to begin with, is fueling this entire media story,” Boykin says. “He has always been motivated by money — that’s the guy’s whole objective.”

But King says in an interview this week that Boykin’s criticism is fueled by envy and that Boykin’s own aspirations are simply to capitalize on King’s literary success.

“I just hope he doesn’t become successful off my name — don’t tear me down to sell a book,” says King, who also insists that he respects Boykin as a colleague.

In his book, Boykin paints King as a modern-day Uncle Tom, willing to exploit his own people by feeding into stereotypes of black men as irresponsible sexual predators in order to acquire fame and wealth for himself.

“A few opportunistic blacks are all too willing to tell white America exactly what they want to hear about us, and … white America is all too willing to publicize and promote controversial black figures who are severely ill-informed,” Boykin writes.

King does not dispute a passage in Boykin’s book in which King originally attempted to court Boykin to ghostwrite “On the Down Low,” only to be rebuffed. When Boykin refused, King tried to “sweeten the pot [by telling Boykin], ‘We’re going to make a lot of money off this,’” Boykin writes.

But King dismisses Boykin’s charges that he is motivated solely by personal gain, saying that his main motivator is to stop the spread of HIV.

“Why is it that in the African-American community, when one is successful we don’t celebrate that success instead of tearing him down?” King says. “We need to really come together as one voice and make some positive things happen instead of Keith trying to talk about me.”

King notes that ...