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Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) in the United States experience a disproportionate burden of violence, substance use, physical and mental health conditions relative to other racial groups. BMSM who engage in sex work (BMSM-SW) experience a high burden of psychosocial conditions, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and intersectional stigma. This analysis characterizes remuneration and client typologies for BMSM-SW, documents intersectional stigma experienced by BMSM-SW relative to other BMSM, and explores the impact of experienced intersectional stigma on the relationship between sex work engagement and psychosocial syndemic conditions (violence, polydrug use, and depression symptoms). Results show that a majority of BMSM-SW in the sample had female clients and that sex workers were more likely than other BMSM to hire another sex worker. BMSM-SW were more likely than other BMSM to report stigma attributed to race; sexuality; HIV status; socioeconomic status; and "other" attributes, and were more likely to report experiencing stigma across all settings assessed (schools; healthcare; employment; housing; police/courts; and in public/community). Intersectional stigma mediated the relationship between sex work engagement and psychosocial syndemic conditions, accounting for 49% (95% CI: 47.6-50.0%) of the relationship. Interventions for BMSM-SW should include resilience-building components to counteract the effects of intersectional stigma.

Background: The HIV epidemic among black men who have sex with men (BMSM) demands urgent public health attention. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly efficacious option for preventing HIV, but characteristics of PrEP use among community samples of BMSM are not well-understood., Methods: A serial cross-sectional survey assessment (N = 4184 BMSM reporting HIV-negative/unsure status) and HIV testing were conducted at Black Gay Pride events in 6 US cities in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017., Results: HIV prevalence was higher among BMSM self-reporting current PrEP use (1 of 3 participants) than BMSM not self-reporting current PrEP use (1 of 5 participants) [32.3%, N = 103/319 vs. 20.0%, N = 639/3,193, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.68, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.31 to 2.15]. BMSM reporting current PrEP use (N = 380) were more likely to report having a greater number of male sex partners (aOR = 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.03), a sexually transmitted infection diagnosis (aOR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.88 to 3.16), and stimulant drug use (aOR = 2.05, 95% CI, 1.21 to 3.47) when compared with BMSM not reporting current PrEP use (N = 3804). PrEP use increased from 4.7% (2014) to 15.5% (2017) (aOR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.25). Among PrEP users, inability to afford health care coverage was associated with testing HIV-positive (aOR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.24 to 3.56)., Conclusions: The high prevalence of HIV infection among BMSM reporting PrEP use is concerning. It does not, however, challenge the efficacy of PrEP itself but rather the uptake of the surrounding preventative package including behavioral risk reduction support, sexually transmitted infection treatment, and medication adherence counseling. Further research to understand barriers to fully effective PrEP is needed to guide operational and behavioral interventions that close the gap on incident infection.