TABLE 4.
Illustrative Quotes for the Main Coping Strategies Used by HIV-positive Latino Sexual Minority Male Participants in Los Angeles County, CA (n = 30)
| Type of Coping Strategy | Quote |
|---|---|
| Strategic Avoidance | |
| Inter-group discrimination: HIV-positive serostatus and sexual minority orientation | “They make comments like saying, ‘F*cking infected f*gs or f*cking f*g, he must have HIV, he must have AIDS.’ These are comments that in many aspects bother me and they also hurt. I have been wanting to tell them, ‘I am HIV positive. I am like you say, ‘a f*cking f*g’ … But you know this is work and so I rather stay quiet.” (undocumented status, gay-identified, age 30) |
| Intraminority-group discrimination: HIV-positive serostatus within the family | “[My brother] was talking [to] me about (HIV)-positive people and that positive people get a lot of help from the government. We grab all this and we use it for drugs and alcohol… I don’t like the way he is and the way he says things… I don’t like to spend time with him to avoid it.” (undocumented status, gay-identified, age 35) |
| Social Support | |
| Inter-group discrimination: sexual minority orientation | “I have strength because I am not alone. I am not the only gay because I have a lot of gay friends because the community is big and we are a big community that always supports each other when there are needs and to defend social justice and demonstrate our values about how we are equal to the rest of the people … we are also human and we are there to erase that image that people sometimes create about us that we are also people worthy of respect and dignity. What is strengthening me is attempting to attend social groups …” (permanent resident, gay-identified, age 37) |
| Intraminority-group discrimination: minority ethnicity | (In response to a Latino cop discriminating against him): “I try to get involved in groups like the ones [the organization] offers. (permanent resident, gay-identified, age 34) |
| Self-Advocacy | |
| Inter-group discrimination: HIV-positive serostatus and sexual minority orientation | “I said, ‘Go to school and get educated, inform yourself on what HIV really is and what are the steps to take when treating someone who has HIV.’ They said, ‘You only say that because you are gay.’ [I said], ‘What does that have to do with it? I am doing a job for which they are paying me for. They are not paying me to figure out if this patient is HIV-positive or not or gay, lesbian whatever you want to call them. In other words, act professional because if this patient finds out that you are discriminating, with solely knowing you are discriminating they will report you and the company and you will come out ‘losing.”‘ (undocumented status, gay-identified, 41) |
| Intraminority-group discrimination: HIV-positive serostatus and residency status | “[My partner is] (HIV)-negative… I tell him, ‘You know what, that’s so rude… that’s the way he sees things. It’s not just like you’re the f*cking Mexican illegal. It’s the f*cking Mexican HIV-positive illegal” (undocumented status, bisexual-identified, age 30) |
| External Attribution —“It’s not me, it’s them.” | |
| Inter-group discrimination: sexual minority orientation | “… sometimes at work I interact with people in construction and I frequently hear them talk about homosexuals in a demeaning way. In construction they use the lowest level of vocabulary, of education. There they refer to the worst nicknames for homosexuals, that they should be burned, that if they had a gay son, they would kick them out or make a man out of them… I find it stupid their way of thinking about these people they don’t know, without thinking that they could have children come out like that and then have to struggle to accept them and support them.” (undocumented status, gay-identified, age 47) |
| Intraminority-group discrimination—sexual minority orientation and HIV- positive serostatus |
“I became disappointed not in me but of the people. I said, ‘How can it be that we are in the 21st century and that ignorance still exists?’ That is what disappointed me the most. I said that person needs to learn more about this. That is all.” (permanent resident, gay-identified, age 47) |
| Spirituality | |
| Inter-group discrimination | “I draw strength from God almighty, the one I call onto him, “God give me patience to tolerate all this ignorance…” (undocumented status, gay-identified, age 41) |
| Positive Reframing | |
| Inter-group discrimination | “I do want to be successful. And though they continue to discriminate me and everything, I know that I still have many more challenges left in my life, many things, but I am willing to overcome them” (permanent resident, gay-identified, age 34) |