Racism, poverty, and homophobia can be formidable obstacles to testing and treatment, particularly for MSM in the South where more than half the new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. were in Southern states, where gay and bisexual black men make up a disproportionate share of people with HIV. These groups also continue to face stigma and discrimination based on their actual or perceived health status, race, socioeconomic status, age, sex, sexual orientation or gender
identity or other grounds. The goal of this multilevel intervention is to utilize the socioecological model to create and pilot an integrated approach to reducing HIV-related stigma and discrimination in the Bolivar, Coahoma, Sunflower, and Washington counties in the Mississippi Delta.