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This is REAL!
For more than a decade, Reverend David North lived a double life, because he
did not believe he could reveal who he truly was inside. "It wasn't like it
was an option, because of the circumstances of family, career, society."
North said.
So, North lived life as reverend, father, and husband. And in his private
time, he slept with men.
"No matter how distasteful it is for me to acknowledge, how shameful it is
for me to acknowledge, no matter how much I loved my wife, she was a cover.
She was a front. So that I could have the time and luxury to devise and
develop and come to an understanding of who I was."
North wrestled with his sexuality and even after he found out he was HIV
positive he didn't tell his wife how he contracted the disease right away.
"I came home and told her that I was HIV positive, but I lied. I told her I
got it from a prostitute when I went to a convention in New York. I didn't
tell her that I was gay," North said.
North's wife and children were not infected. But health officials say many
women in relationships with men on the down low, are. Like most men who are
on the Down Low, David says he was afraid of losing everything: his family,
his career and the support of his community. It's something that health
officials say keeps other men from accepting and expressing who they are.
North says if he had not been diagnosed with HIV, he would still be on the
down low. "I'd probably still be doing it, yes. I'd still be in my large
Baptist church in Northeast Washington.
After a decade of hiding, David is now singing, and living life out loud.
And, he's encouraging other men to tell their stories, through his work as a
pastor of a much smaller congregation.
His partner, David, is right by his side and he too, is HIV positive. David
says that now that he is an out gay man, he looks back at this time, and is
really repentant for living in secrecy and putting his family's health at
risk.
"Guys that are out there doing this, it's selfish, it's ignorant, it's
naïve, it's viciously naïve. And, guys need to wake up and realize that if
you are engaging in any kind of sexual activities - whether you're straight
or gay - and there is someone trusting you, you gotta own up.you gotta own
up to what you're putting that person through," North said.
I am truly sad.
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