The Color Between The Lines with Esther Dillard

Rev. Don Abram says the policies gutting HIV funding right now are "death dealing." In this conversation, he walks through the three-year, university-backed study proving Black churches can be the ones to change that — and explains why a queer preacher ended up leading the work.

In this episode, you'll hear: the three-year study Toward Pride ran with Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville; how churches moved from "Antagonizing" to "Advocate" on a five-point scale; what the Faith, HIV and AIDS Advocacy Fellowship (FHIV) actually funded; why Black women are half of new HIV diagnoses and what churches are doing about it; what's happened to HIV funding and testing access under current federal policy; and what Abram says communities can do right now.

Abram cites a 28% increase in affirming policies and practices at partner churches — his figure, from the study's internal data.

Music: 🎵 "Let's Groove" by Hotham is licensed under a Creative Commons License. License: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbWh7zPj9LI  Stream: https://linktr.ee/hothammusic  Support by RFM - NCM: https://bit.ly/2xGHypM

Guest links: Toward Pride — https://www.towardpride.org. Instagram & Facebook — @towardpride.

For educators: free resources and the full study drop first on Substack at substack.com/@iamestherdillard. Full guides and lesson plans live at ColorBtwLinesMarket on Etsy.