Black LGBT Health in the United States advances our knowledge about Black LGBT communities who have experienced multiple forms of marginalization based on the intersection of racial, gender, social class, and hetero-normative hierarchies. This book engages with the complexities of examining core socio-structural barriers that influence disparate health inequities for Black LGBT communities. One of the major strengths of this work involves its interdisciplinary analytic frameworks--including theory, methodologies, and praxis--that examine health inequities, as situated in the everyday experiences of Black LGBT communities. This book provides an innovative strength-based framework that examines the critical role of resiliency in transcending health inequities in Black LGBT communities, and integrates this knowledge with applications to larger societal contexts. The breadth of this scholarly work is superb in its exploration of innovative, culturally-grounded prevention strategies and community based programs that challenge health inequities and provide a more holistic understanding of Black LGBT communities.
I am so grateful for this volume. It is one of many books that have been missing for so long in the literature. Its intentional focus on Black populations within the LGBT health realm is soul satisfying. I expect this volume will be tremendously helpful for professionals who serve those often rendered invisible.
Lourdes Dolores Follins and Jonathan Mathias Lassiter offer us a long overdue treatment of Black LGBT health in the United States, one that doesn't shy away from our rich, varied, and intersectional tapestry by equally highlighting all constituents of the LGBT acronym. This offering honors all aspects of us through narratives, literature reviews, autoethnography, and both qualitative and quantitative methodologies that affirm our resilience as sexually and gender diverse descendants of the African diaspora. The words and recommendations provide us with considerations that highlight systems and affirmation, not just individual behaviors and pathology. The contributors to this collection paint a portrait of us, our communities, and our families as solutions instead of statistics. This book exalts our glorious resilience as Black LGBT and gender non-conforming peoples, and in doing so, provides us with a road map on how we can more effectively prioritize and celebrate our collective and individual health.