Many Sisters — years into their marriage — find out their husbands are involved in the down low lifestyle.

He’s a Brother who has sex with men, does not consider himself gay or bi-sexual, and is involved with a woman, who does not know about his behavior.

The “DL” is nothing new to the Black community.

Men on the down low have sex with other men while fronting as a straight man.

Movies, articles, and books about Brothers on the DL have raised concerns that they pass HIV to the women in their lives.

JL King wrote a New York Times best-selling book, On the down low: a journey into the lives of “straight” Black men who sleep with men.

King, along with co-author Karen Hunter, wrote about these men who live on the down low, and how their sexual activities have gained significant notice as the rate of HIV/AIDS infection in black women has skyrocketed, with the vast majority of cases coming from heterosexual sex.

King is a veteran of the DL himself and his book serves partly as a social and psychological survey of the other men he has surveyed and partly as a highly candid memoir.

The HIV/STD activist also released the sequel DVD, The Top 10 Signs of ‘Down Low’ Behavior and More.

According to King, the DVD not only provides answers to that never ending question, “What are the signs of a man on the Down Low?” — it also provides practical information on how women, and men can make better decisions about sex, relationships, and HIV/AIDS awareness.

It is NOT okay!

Next is a clip from the 2005 indie film Cover, formally called Invisible by actor-director Bill Duke.

“Dutch” is a handsome, young family man who becomes involved with a man. That one night of passion leads to a possible lifetime of suffering after his sex partner is diagnosed with HIV.

The viewer witnesses Dutch consumed with rage because he learns that he may have contracted the virus and passed it on to his wife.

In an interview, Duke said that he wanted to shed like on an issue that is ravaging families all across this nation.

This is what inspired him to move forward with Cover.

It is important to remember that the problem is far greater than anybody realizes. HIV/AIDS is still an epidemic throughout the world and in this country Black women are its leading victims.

He said the most consistent resistance he received from churches and religious organizations for not supporting his film was — “We don’t believe in sex outside of marriage – and so we can’t support your cause”.

Speaking of religion…

Ted Haggard, former pastor and head of the National Association of Evangelicals, outed last year by his male prostitute, says that he realizes from his therapy that he is heterosexual…and, his wife is making the rounds selling her book trying to prove her husband’s claims.

From Oprah to the Today Show, from The View to CNN, Gayle Haggard is confident that three weeks of counseling ‘cured’ Ted’s urges to be with other men.

Gayle says that Ted made ‘mistakes’ with a male prostitute because of childhood trauma. He is not homosexual — for real this time!

She states her case for standing by her man in Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made In My Darkest Hour.

Perhaps Gayle should meet Dr. LaJoyce Brookshire.

In 1990, this successful Sister was married to a man she thought was her very own Prince Charming.

But then discovered that he knew he had AIDS but kept this deadly secret from her until his body betrayed him.

After he died in 1995, Dr. Brookshire grappled with overwhelming feelings of isolation, fear and betrayal.

When she became an ordained minister in 1998, she thought that her situation was unique.

But over the years she has learned that many Sisters have experienced and are experiencing what she did; however, her late husband didn’t infect her with the virus.

Hallelujah!