Coachella Concerned That People Have Sex, Says AHF
28 March 2024 - 9:41PM
Business Wire
Festival officials demanded AHF remove “Catch
More Than Vibes?” STD testing billboard attendees will see on I-10
Westbound when driving home from party weekends
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival organizers contacted
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS
healthcare organization, this week and demanded the nonprofit
provider take down a billboard posted on I-10 Westbound advertising
free sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing services that
reads, “Catch More Than Vibes?” with the URL FreeSTDCheck.org which
festivalgoers will see as they are leaving the Indio, CA area.
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Image of the AHF billboard on I-10
Westbound advertising free sexually transmitted disease (STD)
testing services that reads, “Catch More Than Vibes?” with the URL
FreeSTDCheck.org, which festivalgoers will see as they are leaving
the Indio, CA area. The billboard will be up through the entire
month of April. (Photo: Business Wire)
The Coachella-themed billboard went up Tuesday, March 26, 2024
and will remain up throughout April as Coachella spans two
weekends: April 12-14 and April 19-21.
“What are Coachella organizers afraid of? Do they really not
know how people spend their time during festival weekends?” said
Michael Weinstein, AHF president and cofounder. “It doesn’t
help anyone to bury their heads in the desert sand and pretend
people aren’t having sex. We want everyone to use condoms and
practice safer sex, but if they don’t, we also want them to know
where to get STD tested easily and for free.”
In addition to HIV/AIDS testing and treatment, AHF provides free
STD testing and treatment at 39 Wellness Centers in 14 states
nationwide, plus Washington, DC. Five of those Wellness Centers are
in California.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise
nationwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), “more than 2.5 million cases of syphilis,
gonorrhea, and chlamydia were reported in the United States” in
2022. California ranks 22 in reported cases of chlamydia, 18th in
reported cases of gonorrhea, and 19th in cases of syphilis.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest
HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine
and advocacy to more than 1.9 million individuals across 46
countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin
America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To
learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on
Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and
subscribe to our AHFter Hours podcast.
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Ged Kenslea, AHF Sr. Comms Dir. (323) 791-5526
Ged.Kenslea@ahf.org