Black Queer Sex Workers Need a Seat at the HIV Advocacy Table: A Conversation With JD Blackstone
Courtesy of Justin Davis, also known as “JD Blackstone.”
HIV advocacy work often strives to have a workforce that mirrors the communities disproportionately impacted by HIV. And while there exist genuine efforts to increase diversity in the field, oftentimes we also see and experience tokenism symbolic gestures to mirror diversity without genuine efforts to proportionately bring diverse voices to the decision-making table. Justin Davis an HIV advocate working in Atlanta who is also well-known in the Black queer community under his porn alias, JD Blackstone knows this form of tokenism all too well, having experienced firsthand how being a sex worker can create conflict while working as an HIV advocate. “It’s like I’m the trinity of what a HIV agency is looking for in a token,” said Davis. “I’m Black, a gay male, and I’m also a sex worker.”