HIV positive African American woman speaks out

[TexasStooge]

By DEBBIE DENMON / WFAA ABC 8

One 46-year-old African American woman has spoken out after years of living with HIV that she said she contracted from her preacher husband who had never told her he had been diagnosed with the disease 14 years ago.

Since Edith Lang's diagnosis, she said reading scripture has helped her live in peace after anger consumed her.

"You know, I wasn't in the streets, I wasn't shooting up drugs, I wasn't sharing needles [and] I was in church," she said.

In fact, Lang thought church would be the perfect place to meet a future husband. However, despite her safe lifestyle, she contracted the disease from the man she trusted most.

"...Why did I need to be educated about HIV and AIDS?" she said. "He was a preacher. He's going to tell me the truth I thought. But a year later, I found out he didn't tell me everything."

After her first wedding anniversary she learned her husband was HIV positive and had been for 14 years.

"Actually, I lost my mind at that moment," she said. "My mind snapped and the only thought I had was to kill him, call the police and tell them what I had done."

Lang's now ex-husband lives with full blown AIDS and said it was her faith that helped her deal with all his secrets, which included his bi-sexuality.

"The home boy that is coming over just may not be the home boy," she said. "They may not be playing football [and] they may not be playing softball. It may be other things that they're doing."

In 2002, HIV/AIDS was among the top four causes of death for African American women aged 25 to 54 years.

"So, I'm taking the opportunity to enlighten women that just because you said I do doesn't mean your safe," she said.

Lang teaches couples to get HIV tests before marriage and to ask those difficult questions that could save their lives.

Despite the most recent census that said African Americans make up only 12 percent of the population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said blacks accounted for nearly half of the estimated new HIV/AIDS diagnosed in the United States in 2004.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a health crisis for African Americans in the United States. In 2004, the rate of AIDS diagnoses for African Americans was ten times the rate of those for whites and nearly three times the rate for Hispanics.

The rate of diagnoses for black women was 23 times higher than the rate for white women.

Feb. 7 is national black HIV/AIDS awareness day, and in Fort Worth the AIDS Outreach Center held an HIV job fair for those living with the disease to help get those in the community educated, tested and involved in prevention efforts.

[Terrell]

This is exactly why heterosexuals, especially women, should never assume that AIDS only happens to gay men.