The Challenge of Staying HIV-Negative for Latin American Immigrants

Abstract

Homophobia, fueled by the anti-homosexual rhetoric of the Catholic church, is rampant in most Latin American countries. This conceptual paper postulates that, in the same way that ethnic culture is deeply entrenched in Latin American groups living in the U.S., transgression of social rules, as a gay-survival strategy, is an intrinsic part of Latin American gay men's psychological functioning. Many of these men, who experience moving to the U.S. as a personal Stonewall Rebellion, are subsequently reluctant to accept restrictions on their sexual expression. Although they are aware of the HIV risks presented by unsafe sex, they equate safer-sex guidelines to the moral and social taboos that they circumvented. In this context, HIV-negative gay men feel that they can get away with still one more instance of unprotected sex. This paper highlights the need for critical thinking about internalized homophobia and transgression survival mechanisms as prerequisites to self-empowerment and HIV-prevention behavior among men who have sex with men of Latin American ancestry. Individual and group psychotherapy and community level political activism may contribute to this end.