My brothers are dying and no one seems to care.

With all the talk about "DL" brothers and black women being the fastest growing portion of new HIV cases in this country, a simple fact always seems to get overlooked: the largest single group of people living with HIV in this country is black gay men.

And by black gay men, I don't mean "dl" brothers. I mean rainbow on the car, at the club, homosexual men.

Dying, y'all. CDC reports that in 5 major cities, up to 46% of black gay men are HIV+. Yet, it's like black gay men are the invisible victims. White gays are always out there, doing their thing and raising awareness. Opree make sure she get the info out there for the sistas. Yet when it comes to the most vulnerable community, there's silence. Except inasmuch as a minority within it can be demonized, there's not a real public discourse on how to stop the 80's from happening all over again in the black gay community.

We've got a whole generation of young brothers who didn't come of age in the 80's. Who weren't even born until after Ryan White had come and gone from the national scene. And because so much of that generation was consumed in the first wave during that time, the knowledge hasn't been effectively passed down. Young homosexual brothers are being as promiscuous as their heterosexual counterparts. The difference is, the consequences for them can be very different from a new life or inconvenient sores that never go away. The consequences can be debilitating illness that cripples them physically and financially, and, ultimately, death. The great challenge is to find ways to reign in this epidemic in the black community. And it's not just about the sisters. It's about the brothers. Brothers who we want to ignore and act like they don't exist.

It's scary for one. For two, it makes me angry. Today is World AIDS Day, and yes, it's critical that everyone go out there and get tested. But it's also important that we be clear on who the primary victims are.

Maybe the queens at the balls, caring for their sick partners, don't make attractive enough targets for documentaries. Maybe the young, pretty woman who is infected by her lying husband is more sympathetic. Maybe it's just easier to find white people who are living with HIV.

But the simple truth is, this is something that's killing our brothers, folks. And we have got to get real about what needs to be done. To make sure that poor men of color have access to the same type of drugs that wealthy gays in West Hollywood and Provincetown do. To make sure that families don't cast us aside when we are stricken with this disease, and either cover it up, or act as if it's our "just desserts" for a "demonic" lifestyle.

I applaud groups like Us Helping Us in DC, GMAD in NYC, or the recently defunct BlackOUT in Cleveland. Doing that hard work, of brothers reaching out to brothers, because no one else seems to be particularly interested.

But today, brothers and sisters of all persuasions, I want you to recognize that our brothers are dying. More than that, I want you to care. Because out of a million Americans living with HIV, something like 400,000 are gay black men. This isn't a just a gay issue, it's a black issue.

I'm done.