One Million Moms is incensed over a campaign encouraging people to learn about injectable PrEP, a long-acting form of medication to prevent transmission of HIV.
The conservative group claims that a ViiV Healthcare television ad promoting injectable PrEP and featuring RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage aired on TV Land, a Paramount-affiliated network that typically broadcasts decades-old sitcoms.
OMM is outraged that an ad promoting ViiV Healthcare’s “PrEP Wisdom” campaign aired on a channel “known for providing nostalgic, wholesome, and familiar comedy shows without the need for edgy programming.” The group claims that the campaign “primarily targets individuals at risk of HIV, including members of the LGBTQ community,” whom it associates with extramarital sex.
The staunchly right-wing group has also criticized Visage’s involvement because of her role as a judge on the Drag Race franchise and her ties to the LGBTQ community, as well as the appearance of “transgender and cross-dressing individuals” in the “PrEP Wisdom” ads.
The group has asked supporters to sign a petition demanding that TV Land pull ViiV Healthcare’s ads from the air. It argues that the commercials — which do not explicitly mention the LGBTQ community or HIV — are inappropriate for an allegedly “family-friendly” network.
“The newest PrEP Wisdom commercials are inappropriate for obvious reasons, especially when airing before prime time when children are still awake and likely watching television,” the group states in its petition to TV Land. “These particular commercials are airing earlier and earlier in the day, as early as 4:00 PM, to be exact.
“In some areas, when this type of commercial airs early in the evening, family viewing time is ruined,” the petition continues. “Can you imagine what goes through the mind of a child, tween, or teen when seeing this ad? A parent never expects to discuss sexuality or homosexuality while sitting at home enjoying family time.”
OMM has collected more than 10,000 signatures calling for the commercials to be pulled.
It remains unclear which ads aired on TV Land and sparked OMM’s outrage. At least two commercials feature Visage. In one, she is surrounded by three men sunbathing on pool chairs as she discusses PrEP options that may seem similar but have important differences.
In a second commercial, Visage walks into a nightclub past a crowd of people who appear to be LGBTQ or gender-nonconforming as she discusses consulting a doctor about how often a person should receive injectable PrEP.
The “PrEP Wisdom” campaign aims to raise awareness of multiple forms of long-acting injectable PrEP, which studies have found to be more effective than daily oral PrEP.
The campaign directs people interested in learning about injectable PrEP options to GetPrEPWisdom.com.
In an email to Metro Weekly, Robin Gaitens, ViiV Healthcare’s director of enterprise communications, wrote that the campaign seeks to “instill a questioning mindset and empower people to have more in-depth conversations with their healthcare provider about the important differences in long-acting injectable PrEP options so they can make informed decisions about their HIV prevention.”
Gaitens added that “some of the questions to ask a healthcare provider are where on the body the medicine is administered, how often it is administered, whether it could interact with other medications or supplements they may be taking, and what to expect with each injection.”
Gaitens also explained why ViiV Healthcare chose Visage for the campaign.
“ViiV Healthcare chose to work with Michelle Visage because she believes in using her voice to uplift and support those impacted by HIV,” Gaitens said. “Her connection to the HIV and LGBTQ+ communities is deeply personal; she lived through the AIDS crisis in the ’80s and she’s been a passionate advocate for these communities ever since.”
The theme among my friend group is Geminis. So many years have seen epic Gemini parties here in D.C. Years ago, however, when I lived in matriarchal Portland, Ore., we Cancers ruled. Well beyond my own, this is a birthday time of year for me. Aside from friends and family, my birthday particularly reminds me of Stonewall, as I was born the weekend of those riots. Then there's America, that moody Cancer whose semiquincentennial birthday we're all about to mark.
I wish I could say celebrate, but please. The state we're in....
As noted, I was born in 1969, making me 7 during the bicentennial. I don't know much about July 4 of that year, as we were living abroad. My only fireworks celebration that summer was Swiss National Day at my grandfather's house in Ticino. Our crappy fireworks got out of control and torched two of his kindling-dry palm trees. Sorry, Grandpa.
"I'm mainly exhausted at this point," Bosco says of the political attacks that have been lobbed against members of the transgender community. "It's just never-ending. It's just this deluge of hate that keeps on happening.
"But the thing with a lot of right-wing talking points is they pick a boogeyman or some sort of scapegoat and they change it about every ten years," the trans drag performer adds. "It's been trans people for a while, it's been Mexican people, it's been Black people, it's been any sort of 'other' that they can then manipulate people into being afraid of, and then they can blame all of the problems in the country on that one group of people. And right now trans people are taking the brunt of it."
A proposed amendment to enshrine the right to marry, regardless of the spouses' gender, in the Delaware Constitution failed to secure the two-thirds majority needed to pass the House of Representatives.
The proposed amendment, sponsored by State Sen. Russ Huxtable (D-Lewes), passed the State Senate on a 16-5 vote on June 10. It marked the first step in the lengthy process of amending the constitution to declare that marriage is "a fundamental right that may not be denied or abridged on the basis of gender," as well as race, color, national origin, or sex.
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