CNP applauds the passage of SB 164—the bill that modernizes Georgia’s decades-old statute criminalizing people living with HIV. The updated legislation introduced by State Senator Chuck Hufsteler (R-52) received bipartisan support and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on May 9, 2022.

Before the passage of SB 164, a person living with HIV (PLHIV) could face a felony and up to 10 years in prison for not disclosing their HIV status prior to any sexual activity. The degree of risk of HIV transmission was not a factor in the statute—including circumstances where there was no HIV transmission, nor even any risk of HIV transmission.

With the passage of the Parental Rights in Education bill in Florida, most commonly referred to by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Republican state senators in Georgia are proposing Senate Bill 613, a similar bill to the Florida legislation that now awaits Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature to become law. The proposed Georgia bill restricts teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with students in private schools.

June 27, 2019 – Atlanta, GA – On this National HIV Testing Day, the Counter Narrative Project (CNP) is calling for radical community conversations around the social isolation, loneliness, and despair, in the lives of black gay men. These forces are also fueled by the deep erosion of our historical, physical, cultural, and geographic communities, our most sacred spaces, in the face of nationwide gentrification and black displacement. Fueled by the continuing disappearance of physical spaces for us, by us, we turn to virtual substitutions, which are more often than not, insufficient.

February 20, 2019 – Atlanta, GA – Black people represent only 13% of the population but 50% of people living with HIV. The epicenter of that epidemic continues to be the Southern region of the United States and has been for some time. In response to the endurance of the epidemic and the anemic response to that epidemic as it relates to black Americans, particularly in the South, on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a group of activists and organizations are demanding change. The Counter Narrative Project, a national black gay men’s advocacy organization located in Atlanta, joined over 50 signees on a five-point statement of principled stances demanding the following: …

February 14, 2019 – Atlanta, GA – The Fulton County Board of Commissioners will deliver a proclamation honoring the legacy of a Black gay poet, HIV activist, and cultural pioneer who made both Black and American history, Atlanta’s own Tony Daniels. The proclamation will be presented during the February 20th Fulton County Board of Commissioner’s Recess Meeting at 10 am, in the Fulton County Government Center Assembly Hall located at 141 Pryor Street SW in Atlanta, GA. The proclamation is expected to officially be delivered by District 4 County Commissioner Natalie Hall of Atlanta.

January 8, 2019 – Atlanta, GA – News outlets are reporting that the body of another black man has been found at the home of Ed Buck on January 7th. His name has not been released. Only a picture of his body on a gurney. In 2017 the body of Gemmel Moore, a young black gay man, had also been found at Buck’s home. Buck was investigated, but the L.A. County District Attorney’s office declined to file charges. In less than two years, two black men are dead, and Buck is free.

December 18, 2018 – Atlanta, GA – The Counter Narrative Project (CNP), a national Black gay men’s advocacy organization won the 2018 POZ Award in the Best Video Series category, for Revolutionary Health. “This is such an incredible honor. We are so very grateful for the support of our community,” said CNP Executive Director and co-host of the Revolutionary Health series, Charles Stephens. The Atlanta-based talk show also is co-hosted by the esteemed clinical practitioner and researcher David Malebranche, MD, who only one month before received a proclamation from the city of Atlanta for his local and national work in HIV.

November 13, 2018 – Atlanta, GA – As the co-host of the Counter Narrative Project’s, POZ-award nominated “Revolutionary Health” health education web series, Dr. David Malebranche has tackled such far-ranging topics as addressing chronic depression to engaging in safer practices with sex toys among Black gay men. However, thousands of dedicated viewers of the cutting-edge, live-streamed show may not be aware that Dr. Malebranche is more than a knowledgeable talking head. The first-generation son of a Haitian immigrant physician is also a published author and one of the leading practitioner researchers working in the HIV/AIDS field today.

September 19, 2018 – Atlanta, GA – The iconographic images of long-time Atlanta-based photographer and Counter Narrative Project (CNP) Director of Networking and Community Mobilization, Johnnie Ray Kornegay III, are gracing the September/October pages of Positively Aware Magazine’s landmark HIV Criminalization issue. The editor of the publication’s special edition commissioned Mr. Kornegay as the volume’s cover photographer to visually capture the stories of those impacted by HIV criminalization laws as well as those who have spent the better part of their lives advocating for the modernization, if not the eradication of these draconian laws. The issue features such prominent activists as Georgia HIV Justice Coalition’s Nina Martinez and survivors such as The Sero Project’s Robert Suttle, a Black gay man who was imprisoned under Louisiana law. Symbolically shot at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, the critical edition extends Mr. Kornegay’s reputation as one who continues to mix his art and activism with a unique and personal flair.

May 15, 2018 – Atlanta, GA – The Counter Narrative Project (CNP) congratulates Gracie Bonds Staples on winning the coveted 2018 GLAAD Media Award for “Outstanding Newspaper Article.” Hosted by the GLAAD in New York City on May 5th, following star-studded ceremonies in Los Angeles in April, the 29th Annual Awards ceremony honored her critically acclaimed coverage of the HIV epidemic’s impact on Black gay men in the South. Published last August in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the five-part series, “The Silent Epidemic: Black Gay Men and HIV,” featured Rev. Duncan Teague, Craig Washington, Dr. David Malebranche, Daniel Driffin, as well as CNP Executive Director Charles Stephens

February 28, 2018 – Atlanta, GA – The Counter Narrative Project (CNP) Atlanta-based Mobilization Director, Johnnie Ray Kornegay, III, has been featured among the South’s top queer artists in the third physical edition of WUSSY Magazine, a Southern LGBTQ multimedia platform. Kornegay and three of his selected photographic works are prominently featured in WUSSY's “Sex Issue” alongside over 30 other queer Southern artists. The edition, available now through WussyMag.com, serves as both Kornegay’s artistic debut in a print publication and the first time his work will have international exposure through the magazine’s global distribution channels.