UCLA

Epidemiological categories not only reflect existing frameworks for public health, but reify how subpopulations are defined, understood, and targeted for interventions. The sweeping categorization of Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) used in HIV research and intervention work is one such example. The current paper builds upon previous critiques of the "MSM" nomenclature by delineating the sexual and gender diversity embedded in the term as it pertains specifically to Black peoples. The emphasis is on developing greater specificity about the sociocultural and structural factors that may be shared among these subgroups, such as racism and poverty, and the factors that are likely to distinguish the groups, such as levels of sexual minority identification, access to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) services and community, and experiences with anti-bisexual or anti-transgender bias. The aim then is to provide a framework for HIV health policy work for Black sexual minority cisgender men (SMCM) and gender minorities (GM).