Practical insights from the Human Rights Campaign’s HBCU PrEP peer educator program

Abstract

The recent surge of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer, intersex, and asexual+ (LGBTQIA+) state legislative bills throughout the United States prompt one to consider the multiple ways Black LGBTQIA + students in historically Black college and university (HBCU) settings will encounter challenges within and outside healthcare settings. Thus, through this innovative practice brief, we lift practical insights from the Human Rights Campaign’s HBCU PrEP Peer Educator Program. We provided an overview of the peer educator program and then describe the program’s components and we offered future implications for practice.

Keywords:

• HBCUs
• HIV/AIDS
• LGBTQIA + students
• health peer educators

Disclosure Statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 For the purposes of this practice brief, well-being is defined as the “optimal and dynamic state that allows people to achieve their full potential” (NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation et al., 2020, p. 2) .

2 The HBCU PrEP Peer Educator program is supported by Gilead Science’s 5-million-dollar donation to the HRC.

3 The peer educator program’s title is an adaptation of Too $hort’s (Hip-Hop artist) 2006 song “Blow the Whistle”.

4 Ballroom culture refers to the intentional spaces erected by Black and Latinx LGBTQIA + individuals to resist racism and cisgender and heterosexual norms. Individuals who frequent these spaces embody performance and form kinships to defy oppressive racial, gendered, and sexual politics.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jarrel T. Johnson

Jarrel T. Johnson is an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Utah in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy. His scholarship employs critical and organizational theories to assist institutional stakeholders in leading transformative change with and for historically marginalized and exploited student populations in higher education. Specifically, Jarrel’s research seeks to understand the organizational aspects that foster the inclusion of LGBTQIA + students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Leslie D. Hall

Leslie D. Hall is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies at Howard University. His program of research is concentrated on pathways to the presidency for queer historically Black college and university (HBCU) administrators, leadership development for queer student leaders, and fundraising amongst queer populations of color. He is also the director of the HBCU Program of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC). At HRC, Leslie works with HBCU presidents and administrators toward the goal of achieving full equality and inclusion for queer and trans* HBCU students.

Raphael D. Florestal-Kevelier

Raphael D. Florestal-Kevelier is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He has advanced training and over 15 years of experience engaging in scholarship, practice, and teaching focused on the well-being of university students, with an emphasis on its intersections with students’ academic, professional, and personal success. Within higher education, his research and practice pay attention to advancing health equity in university contexts, cultivating health promoting campus environments, and the academic and social experiences of Black queer and transgender students. Raphael is also currently the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Health and Wellness within the UIC Office of Student Affairs and a Board of Directors member for the American College Health Association.