Ron Simmons
Country
United States
Birth - Death
1950 - 2-2-
Occupation
Activist
Description
Former Executive Director, Us Helping Us (UHU), an organization which began as a self-help support group for HIV-infected black gay men and has become the largest gay-identified black AIDS organizations in the Washington DC metropolitan area, serving gay and same-gender-loving men, heterosexual men and women, transgender persons, and youth. Author of numerous medical papers on the subject of HIV/AIDS. Published works include, 'Sexuality, Television and Death: A Black Gay Dialogue on Malcolm X”' (Malcolm X: In Our Own Image, 1992); and 'Baraka’s Dilemma: To Be or Not To Be,' (Black Men on Race, Gender and Sexuality, 1999); 'The Voice' (For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Still Not Enough, 2012); and 'Joe, Essex, Marlon, and Me' (Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam’s Call, 2014). Recipient of the 2010 Life Time Achievement Award from the Black Gay Research Group; the 2010 Harvey Milk Alumni Award from the State University of New York at Albany; and the 2004 Heroes in the Struggle Award from the Black AIDS Institute. Selected in December 2010 by POZ magazine as one of the POZ 100 most influential AIDS activists in the United States.
