HIV, Aging, and the Black LGBTQ Community: A Call to Action

National HIV and Aging Awareness Day is a good time to talk about what growing older with HIV looks like for Black LGBTQ+ people. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) means people with HIV now live long lives, and that is worth celebrating. But aging with HIV carries its own health complications, and they fall hardest on communities that have long been shut out of good care.

For Black LGBTQ+ people the load is heavier: a history of racial and medical discrimination, social stigma, and thinner access to quality healthcare. Black Americans are about 12% of the U.S. population, yet they account for nearly 42% of new HIV diagnoses​(HIV.gov)​(CDC). Black gay, bisexual, and transgender men carry a disproportionate share of those diagnoses. Where aging and HIV meet in our community, attention is overdue—and so is action.

Growing Older with HIV

Nearly half of all Americans living with diagnosed HIV are now aged 50 or older​(NIH Office of AIDS Research). Managing the virus is only part of it. Aging with HIV also raises the risk of conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cognitive decline​(NIH Office of AIDS Research). Add structural barriers to care—including discrimination inside healthcare settings—and the picture gets harder still for Black LGBTQ+ people.

Older Black adults—especially women and transgender people—are less likely to talk about sexual health with their healthcare providers​(NIH Office of AIDS Research)​(NIH Office of AIDS Research). That silence can delay diagnosis and treatment, and with HIV, time matters for long-term health.

Closing the Gaps

Awareness comes first, but awareness alone won’t fix care for aging Black LGBTQ+ people living with HIV. Healthcare providers need training in culturally competent care—care that accounts for the actual social and medical lives of Black LGBTQ+ patients, not a generic version of them.

Prevention has to reach more people too. PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) works, and early HIV testing works—but right now only 8% of Black people who could benefit from PrEP are using it​(CDC). That number has to move.

What We’re Asking

This National HIV and Aging Awareness Day, we’re asking healthcare providers, policymakers, and community organizations to put aging Black LGBTQ+ people living with HIV at the front of their plans. Our elders deserve more than survival. They deserve equitable care, and the plain knowledge that their lives matter to the rest of us.

One way to help right now: Black Alphabet is fielding a team for Chicago’s AIDS Run/Walk 2024, and we invite you to donate to it.