Tamar Sibley never had a role model growing up as a Black gay man.
That changed 10 years ago after he attended an event hosted by In the Meantime Men,Inc., a South LA- based nonprofit organization that provides programs that address sexual and mental health, housing and social support as well as cultural and community building for Black gay men.
Sibley told The LA Local he wasn’t aware that Black gay men had such support and remembers how he relied on the group when he was diagnosed with HIV in 2017.
“Going to a men’s group on Tuesday nights, I didn’t know that Black gay men could come together and support each other,” said Sibley, who is now a certified HIV tester, counselor and a volunteer for the organization that services more than 2,000 men each year.
In the Meantime Men was founded by Jeffrey C. King in 1998, in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis. King, who was a social worker for 35 years, said he witnessed the lack of support for Black gay men and created the group to address the trauma they’d experienced after surviving the epidemic.
He said he wanted a space where Black gay men from all walks of life could focus on their mental, physical, spiritual and economic well being.
“The name of the group came about because we needed to figure out what to do now. How do we move on from this crisis, how do we rebuild the community?” King said.
In order to send positive messages to Black gay men in South LA all year long — and not just during Pride Month in June — the group started a billboard campaign about 20 years ago, which is now funded by the LA-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
“Nobody was affirming LGBTQ+ people in our community,” King said. “It was more like we were a negative stain and we were being thrown into a bunch of stereotypes.”
The billboards are in three locations across South LA: Crenshaw Boulevard between Stocker and 43rd streets; Crenshaw Boulevard between Coliseum Street and Obama Boulevard; and La Brea Avenue between Coliseum Street and Obama Boulevard.
Though the billboards provided much-needed visibility in the community, the campaign has not been without controversy through the years.
“Some of the billboards were a little edgy, we knew that there would be some risks,” King said. “There were bomb threats and I was personally threatened.”
One billboard, King said, was vandalized and completely blacked out by a local artist whom he chose not to identify.
King told The LA Local he had hundreds of conversations with people in the community who were concerned about billboards that showed men lovingly embracing, for example, and the message it may send to their children.
The group ultimately decided to continue with the billboard campaign but made some adjustments to what they depicted.
“I have nieces and nephews and I’m very sensitive to children,” King said. “I didn’t want to offend the same Black community that we are a part of but messaging to Black gay men is still necessary.”
Despite some push back about the billboards, In the Meantime Men continued to make meeting the needs of Black gay men their top priority.
“The number one issue our clients face is having access to information,” said Prince Martin, the group’s program manager. “When I have conversations with people, they always say they don’t know about the community resources as a whole whether it’s health, housing or financial.”
For more information on this group, visit the In the Meantime Men’s website where there is a list of other resource groups that serve the LGBTQ+ community like Better Brothers LA and Black Lesbians United.
