It is in the context of a dominant masculinity ideology, which opposes or devalues non-heterosexually identified men, that many young GBQ males must develop resilience and wellness. Facilitating overall wellness and health through interventions and community action among GBQ male adolescents requires an examination of the responses of these young men to the dominant images of masculinity, as gender and gender expression have been identified as core contextual constructs that impact health promotion efforts ( Courtenay, 2000), particularly HIV prevention ( Diaz, 1998 DiClemente & Wingood, 1995). This paper describes a qualitative investigation of how a sample of African American, Latino and European American GBQ male adolescents construct masculinity and the strategies they use to navigate their own and society’s masculinity ideologies. Young men who have sex with men are considered to be at high risk for HIV infection because the largest proportion of males between the ages of 13–24 living with HIV and AIDS contracted the virus through male-to-male transmission ( CDC, 2006 Garofalo & Harper, 2003).
