Rally set Saturday in S. Dallas after city councilwoman made national news by objecting to Greater Than AIDS billboard featuring 2 men
UNACCEPTABLE | Dallas City Councilwoman Vonciel Hill objected to this Greater Than AIDS billboard because she said it ‘presents African-American men who are homosexual as acceptable.’
Local activists plan a protest Saturday, June 22, in response to Dallas City Councilwoman Vonciel Hill’s homophobic objections this week to a Greater Than AIDS billboard in her district featuring two black men.
In an email to local media, Hill expressed her disapproval of a Greater Than AIDS billboard that appeared in her district. The photo features two black men, one with his arm around the other. The tag line is “Update Your Status.”
Hill, the lone city council member who has refused to appear at gay Pride, objected to several messages she said the billboard sends, writing in the email: “Presenting African-American men who are homosexuals as acceptable, engaging in such conduct presents health risks, feel free to continue what you are doing but protect your health.”
In 2009, Hill said she won’t appear at Dallas Pride because, “there are some acts God doesn’t bless.”
Dallas City Councilwoman Angela Hunt, a staunch LGBT ally, responded to Hill’s statements this week.
Vonciel Hill
“I’m often at a loss for words with statements from Vonciel,” Hunt said. “It seems to me she’s putting prejudice ahead of public health.”
She said statements like Hill’s make African-American men afraid to come out and check their status.
“I don’t understand statements like that,” she said. “When I saw the statistics, that’s exactly the audience you want to reach.”
And the statistics are alarming.
Dallas County has the highest HIV infection rate in Texas. Of those new infections, 49 percent are in the African-American community. That rate is four times as high as in the Hispanic community and three times as high as whites.
About three out of four new infections in Dallas County, including in African-Americans, are in men who have sex with men.
That prompted the choice of the photo and placement of the two billboards.
Kirk Myers, founder and CEO of South Dallas AIDS organization Abounding Prosperity, responded to Hill by planning a protest at 11 a.m. Saturday outside his agency along MLK Jr. Blvd.
Fox 4 broke the story about Hill’s reaction after she sent the station an email. Myers called the station’s coverage biased. Although County Health director Zach Thompson and AIDS Arms CEO John Carlo refuted her take on the billboards, no gay black men were included to tell their own story, Myers said.
Protest organizer Harold Steward said he hopes allies would join the rally in response to Hill.
Myers pointed out that the image in the ad had been used successfully before but he worried the media coverage focused on Hill’s anti-gay message and missed the point of the promotion.
“People are missing the message — update your status,” he said.
He said the billboard was placed because June 28 is National HIV Testing Day. His agency and others will be conducting free HIV testing in a number of places throughout the county during the week.
But while people in the LGBT community condemned Hill for her bigotry, Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zach Thompson thinks her outrage backfired.
“Based on the coverage, I think we got the news out broader than before,” Thompson said. “A lot of people didn’t know about the infection rate.”
He said his department and AIDS agencies around the county need community partners and churches to work together.
“Long term, this is a conversation that’s evolved,” he said. “The conversation is moving forward.”
Kiestwood Neighborhood Association President Raymond Crawford said he took great pleasure in seeing two of the billboards Hill objected to not far from his house. The heavily gay Kiestwood neighborhood is part of the newly redrawn District 3 that Hill will represent on the council that is sworn in next week.
“I’m disappointed she’s so out of touch with her new constituents in District 3,” Crawford said. “As a civil servant you have to have the ability to listen to your constituents.”
He said people in the neighborhood have approached her to talk about a variety of issues.
“It’s her ability to respond appropriately that doesn’t seem to ever occur,” he said.
He doesn’t just fault Hill for her inappropriate response, however.
“Shame on the mayor for not getting behind it,” he said. “He could have shown some good effective leadership.”
Crawford said he hopes some of the ministers in area churches would focus on the importance of getting tested and promote “update your status” to their parishioners.
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National HIV Testing Day
National HIV Testing Day is Friday, June 28. Local agencies will offer testing at these locations on the following dates:
• AIDS Interfaith Network at General Mexican Consulate, 1210 Riverbend Drive
June 28, 9 a.m.–2 p.m.
• Resource Center Dallas at Nelson-Tebedo Community Clinic, 4012 Cedar Springs Road
June 27–28, 9 a.m.– 4 p.m.
• Dallas County, Abounding Prosperity and AIDS Arms at six area Walgreens, from 3 p.m.–7 p.m. June 27–28, and from 9 a.m.–2 p.m. June 29:
1461 Robert B. Cullum Blvd.
3211 S. Lancaster Road
3826 Cedar Springs Road
3802 Cedar Springs Road
731 W. Belt Line Road, DeSoto
1325 Pennsylvania Ave., #60, Fort Worth
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 21, 2013.