THIS
YEAR
GOT
off
to
a
rocky
start
for
local
gay
black
AIDS
organization
Us
Helping
Us.
Lydia
Watts,
then-director
of
the
HIV/AIDS
Administration
for
D.C.’s
Department
of
Health,
announced
drastic
funding
cuts
for
the
organization
in
January.
Until
then,
Us
Helping
Us
received
three
grants
from
HAA
totaling
nearly
$460,000.
Its
funding
was
cut
to
$75,000
in
2005.
Although
Watts
has
since
been
replaced
by
Marsha
A.
Martin,
Ron
Simmons,
gay
executive
director
of
Us
Helping
Us,
still
decries
the
impact
the
funding
cuts
had
on
his
organization.
“We’re
not
on
the
street
as
much
because
the
funding
for
that
was
cut,”
Simmons
says,
explaining
that
Us
Helping
Us
formerly
focused
much
of
its
grassroots
outreach
in
barbershops,
beauty
parlors
and
other
similar
establishments.
“In
our
heyday,
we
were
at
bus
stops,”
Simmons
says.
“We
had
a
model
of
a
vagina
and
we
were
showing
women
how
you
use
female
condoms
at
bus
stops.”
As
the
year
progressed,
Simmons
found
conditions
improving
for
Us
Helping
Us.
HAA
recently
committed
to
granting
the
organization
$150,000
for
2006,
and
Us
Helping
Us
recently
received
a
Red
Ribbon
Award
from
the
National
HIV/AIDS
Partnership,
an
organization
of
prominent
business,
religious
and
entertainment
figures
fighting
to
stop
the
epidemic.
“The
point
of
the
awards
was
really
to
…
award
people
who
have
been
out
there
doing
the
work,
especially
people
who
have
been
doing
it
for
a
long
time,”
NHAP
member
Sonya
Lockett
says.
“Us
Helping
Us
has
been
doing
the
work
for
a
long
time.
They’re
serving
a
population
that
people
weren’t
really
looking
at
and
people
weren’t
really
servicing.”
D.C.
Mayor
Anthony
A.
Williams
declared
Dec.
1,
2005
as
Us
Helping
Us
day
for
the
District
of
Columbia.
The
proclamation
was
announced
on
World
AIDS
Day
at
the
grand
opening
of
newly
renovated
Us
Helping
Us
building
in
northwest
D.C.
“Us
Helping
Us,
this
is
what
this
is
all
about,”
Martin,
who
attended
the
grand
opening
ceremony,
says.
“Ron
is
feeling
pretty
good
and
he
should.
He
should
be
proud.
When
they
say
1
in
7
African-American
men
in
D.C.
has
HIV,
[that
means
HAA]
should
help
[Us
Helping
Us]
continue
to
do
their
outreach.
It’s
time
for
us
to
support
each
other.”
The
organization
had
grown
from
meeting
in
living
rooms
when
Rev.
Kwabena
“Rainey”
Cheeks,
founding
minister
of
gay-inclusive
Inner
Light
Ministries,
started
Us
Helping
Us
in
1985.
Later
the
organization
was
housed
in
six
buildings
across
four
blocks
of
L
St.,
SE
until
it
purchased
its
new
building
in
2001.
Renovations
to
the
current
space
began
in
2004.
The
new
facility
at
3636
Georgia
Ave.,
NW,
comprises
6,100
square
feet
and
will
hold
all
of
the
organizations’
offices
as
well
as
counseling,
meeting
and
testing
rooms.
Simmons
says
the$700,000
in
renovations
to
the
building,
which
was
purchased
for
$438,000,
included
expanding
the
existing
basement,
connecting
the
previously
separated
first
floor
and
gutting
the
rest
of
the
structure
before
rebuilding
its
interior.
“It’s
ours.
Wow,”
Simmons
says.
“I
still
find
myself
smiling
when
I
come
to
work.
This
building
is
our
rock.”
The
new
building
will
also
house
Simmons’
new
focus
for
Us
Helping
Us,
which
was
motivated
in
part
by
a
recent
study
from
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
&
Prevention
of
gay
men
in
five
cities.
The
study
found
that
46
percent
of
the
black
gay
men
in
those
cities
were
HIV
positive.
“It’s
devastating
and
it’s
worse
than
that,”
Simmons
says.
The
46
percent,
he
says,
is
an
average.
In
Baltimore,
the
figure
was
67
percent.
“If
Baltimore
is
67
percent,
given
how
close
D.C.
is
to
Baltimore
and
how
much
we
interact
socially,
I
think
D.C.
is
probably
much
higher
than
46
percent,”
Simmons
says.
Research
has
shown
Simmons
that
the
reason
black
gay
men
are
still
contracting
HIV
has
nothing
to
do
with
their
knowledge
of
the
disease,
he
says.
“Maybe
we
need
to
rethink
what
it
is
we
need
to
do,”
Simmons
says.
“We’re
going
to
have
to
get
involved
more
in
changing
social
norms.
We
have
come
to
realize
that
HIV
prevention
is
not
a
matter
of
education.
They
know
about
HIV,
they
know
it’s
caused
by
a
virus,
they
know
about
latex
condoms.
They
know
all
that
stuff.
The
problem
is
they’re
not
changing
their
behavior.”
The
cruelty
of
an
intolerant
society
has
obliterated
black
gay
men’s
self-esteem,
Simmons
says.
“When
you
listen
in
the
support
groups
[to]
what
the
men
are
talking
about,
they’re
not
talking
about
HIV
or
how
to
prevent
it,”
Simmons
says.
“They’re
talking
about
their
father
calling
them
a
‘faggot’
since
the
age
of
5.
Basically,
for
black
gay
men,
what
they’re
dealing
with
is
really
childhood
trauma.
So
it’s
not
that
they
don’t
know
how
to
save
their
lives
from
HIV,
it’s
that
they
don’t
know
that
their
lives
are
worth
saving.”
Despite
the
overwhelming
work
left
to
do,
Simmons
remains
determined
to
express
pride
in
the
focus
of
Us
Helping
Us.
“To
me,
it’s
important
that
we
say
it.
‘We
are
gay,’”
Simmons
says.
“We
need
to
keep
saying
it,
because
it’s
too
easy
to
forget
it.”
