• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Honor the past and celebrate the present with PRIDE | Opinion
  • Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell ‘did not get enough in royalties’
  • Tom Cruise ‘Would Love to Meet Someone Special’ After 3 Divorces: ‘He Believes the Right Girl Is Out There’

Telling The Stories Of Gay Black Men Can End HIV Stigma

Savas Abadsidis December 18, 2018 Leave a Comment

JayRay 2 edited 1 copy

While HIV rates spike in Atlanta,  Johnnie Ray Kornegay III  is seeking to record the stories of Black gay men in pictures.

Kornegay’s journey to professional photographer began when he set out to be a music producer/performer. As reporter Gracie Bonds Staples of  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said: “That lasted four years and after graduating from Temple University, he became a recruiter for Independence Blue Cross, which eventually led to a managerial position with Borders bookstore and then Home Depot here in Atlanta and closer, not just to his third dream, but what seems to have been his destiny. I say that because, three days before World AIDS Day, I was with Kornegay in his Stone Mountain photography studio and it was very clear to me the man had discovered his true passion, which comes, of course, with accepting your true self.”

“Be the Flame” and his newest body of work, “Naked,” a photo series of 25 Black gay and bisexual men in the nude, are about body image and self-love and about what had evolved into his third dream: telling the stories of Black gay men.

Kornegay was inspired to come out publicly as a Black gay man in 2015 after he found himself adding his name to an online letter expressing love and devotion to Michael Johnson, the athlete sentenced to prison for “knowingly” exposing or transmitting HIV to six male partners.

To give you some context as to the environment that Korengay is working in,  Dr. Carlos del Rio, the co-director for the Emory Center for AIDS research recently said “Downtown Atlanta is as bad as Zimbabwe or Harare or Durban [All in Africa].”

Health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that Atlanta remains in an HIV/AIDS health crisis and ranks fourth in the nation for new HIV diagnoses.

Kornegay told Project Q Atlanta, “I learned about HIV because of 1980s and 1990s pop culture. I remember watching Neneh Cherry’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” video. It was the visual arts from Keith Haring, the music from Janet Jackson, the poetry from Essex Hemphill that gave me courage and knowledge. Art of my childhood was seductive in the way it taught me to think more deeply. I could speak out. Art is indispensable from social change for black folks. It gives us context. It gives us language. It helps us understand the world around us.”

He recently shot the cover of the HIV treatment magazine Positively Aware‘s September/October 2018 issue on HIV decriminalization. “As a person who’s released two bodies of artistic work publicly that included the stories of black gay men living with HIV, I was so honored to do the cover. HIV laws around the country must be modernized. I am committed to being part of that change.”

Positively Aware’s art director Rick Guasco who hired Kornegay called him a, “Great advocate and passionate and energetic artist dedicated to the cause.”

Ramon 14 copy
Body paint by ajmal millar | image by jay ray

Korengay told Towleroad,  “As an artist, it’s important to me to tell the truth about the world and the subjects that step in front of my camera. As a Black gay man, my tribe are Black gay men and other marginalized folks, including people living with HIV. I was enlightened by the art of my childhood, and it’s my responsibility to use my art to tell our truths today. Like Tony Daniels said “We are here,” and like Craig G. Harris before him, ‘[we] will be heard.'”

Follow Johnnie on Twitter.

 

Topics: Health, Music, towleroad More Posts About: African American, AIDS, AIDS.HIV, Atlanta, Black churches, Black Gay, Black Gay University, Gay

Related Posts
  • Studio 54 owner Mark Fleischman dies by assisted suicide at Dignitas, says his business partner
  • Govt’s Halting Response In Ramping Monkeypox Tests, Vaccines May Have Missed Chance to Contain Outbreak Over Last 30 Days.
  • MPX is MonkeyPox is Everywhere; CDC Undercounts Cases; ‘Lesions, Headaches, Debilitating Pain… You Don’t Want This ‘; ROUNDUP
  • Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell ‘did not get enough in royalties’

    Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell ‘did not get enough in royalties’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Candace Bushnell “did not get the royalties she deserved” for ‘Sex and the City’. The 64-year-old author wrote a column for The New York Observer that was adapted into the bestselling …Read More »
  • Tom Cruise ‘Would Love to Meet Someone Special’ After 3 Divorces: ‘He Believes the Right Girl Is Out There’

    Tom Cruise ‘Would Love to Meet Someone Special’ After 3 Divorces: ‘He Believes the Right Girl Is Out There’

    Published by OK Magazine mega Tom Cruise is back on the prowl! The three-time divorced movie star has reportedly been in search of a new woman after being single for about a year. mega “Tom would …Read More »
  • Scores detained in Hong Kong on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

    Scores detained in Hong Kong on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

    Published by Reuters By Jessie Pang and Ben Blanchard HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) -Hong Kong police searched and detained scores of people on Sunday, including four arrested for “seditious” intent, as authorities tightened security for the 34th …Read More »
  • Kim Cattrall’s ‘Stipulations’ for ‘And Just Like That’ Cameo Revealed: ‘Refused to Film With Her Former Costars’ Including Sarah Jessica Parker

    Kim Cattrall’s ‘Stipulations’ for ‘And Just Like That’ Cameo Revealed: ‘Refused to Film With Her Former Costars’ Including Sarah Jessica Parker

    Published by OK Magazine mega Before Kim Cattrall could sign on to appear in And Just Like That Season 2, she had some demands that had to be met, including how she refused to film with …Read More »
Previous Post: « Robert Mueller, Les Moonves, Bump Stocks, MNEK, Tucker Carlson, Bernie Sanders, JFK Jr, Kate Winslet: HOT LINKS
Next Post: A ‘Queer As Folk’ For The Future? »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Tennessee pride celebrations showcase queer joy amid neo-Nazi threats, legal attacks

    Tennessee pride celebrations showcase queer joy amid neo-Nazi threats, legal attacks

  • ‘It’s about self-care’: Lady Gaga thinks make-up can benefit mental health

    ‘It’s about self-care’: Lady Gaga thinks make-up can benefit mental health

  • Pregnant transgender man featured on cover of Glamour magazine

    Pregnant transgender man featured on cover of Glamour magazine

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y'know

  • Kelly Ripa Savagely Exposes Andy Cohen After He Sent Her a ‘Completely Erect’ NSFW Photo From Potential Suitor

    Kelly Ripa Savagely Exposes Andy Cohen After He Sent Her a ‘Completely Erect’ NSFW Photo From Potential Suitor

  • Elliot Page reveals he was told by A-list actor: ‘I’m going to f*** you to make you realise you aren’t gay’

    Elliot Page reveals he was told by A-list actor: ‘I’m going to f*** you to make you realise you aren’t gay’

  • Andy Cohen Admits Further Plastic Surgery Discussions Were Cut From ‘KUWTK’ Reunion Special: ‘People Would Be Really Surprised’

    Andy Cohen Admits Further Plastic Surgery Discussions Were Cut From ‘KUWTK’ Reunion Special: ‘People Would Be Really Surprised’

Partner Links

  • Ashlee Simpson Ross & Evan Ross Couple Up For Race To Erase MS Gala 2023 With Alessandra Ambrosio & More!
  • Shakira Returns to Spain for F1 Grand Prix Months After Moving to Miami
  • Sunday Round-Up: Idina Menzel; The Fosters; Tyler James Williams; Alex Wyse; Andy Cohen & more!
  • Greg in Hollywood does WeHo Pride!
  • Open Post: Hosted By Rosie, Who Could Be The World’s Oldest Living Cat At 32

Most Recent

  • Honor the past and celebrate the present with PRIDE | Opinion

    Honor the past and celebrate the present with PRIDE | Opinion

  • Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell ‘did not get enough in royalties’

    Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell ‘did not get enough in royalties’

  • Tom Cruise ‘Would Love to Meet Someone Special’ After 3 Divorces: ‘He Believes the Right Girl Is Out There’

    Tom Cruise ‘Would Love to Meet Someone Special’ After 3 Divorces: ‘He Believes the Right Girl Is Out There’

  • Scores detained in Hong Kong on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

    Scores detained in Hong Kong on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

  • Kim Cattrall’s ‘Stipulations’ for ‘And Just Like That’ Cameo Revealed: ‘Refused to Film With Her Former Costars’ Including Sarah Jessica Parker

    Kim Cattrall’s ‘Stipulations’ for ‘And Just Like That’ Cameo Revealed: ‘Refused to Film With Her Former Costars’ Including Sarah Jessica Parker

  • Thai PM frontrunner attends Pride parade, promising same-sex marriage, gender identity rights

    Thai PM frontrunner attends Pride parade, promising same-sex marriage, gender identity rights

  • Kim Cattrall has ‘moved on’ from Sex and the City

    Kim Cattrall has ‘moved on’ from Sex and the City

  • Eddie Izzard says they are now called ‘Suzy’ and don’t mind being called ‘she, her, he, or him’

    Eddie Izzard says they are now called ‘Suzy’ and don’t mind being called ‘she, her, he, or him’

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

×