Petition Calling for AHF’s Michael Weinstein to Resign Gains Momentum
Michael Weinstein, the president and founder of LA-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, has been ruffling feather in the porn industry for years for, among other things, being the main force behind the “Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act’,” or Measure B, which passed in 2012 and mandated condom usage in all straight and gay porn films produced in LA county. However, thanks to a recent interview with the Associated Press, Weinstein is making even more enemies. Discussing the use of HIV medication Truvada as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PreP) to prevent the spread of HIV, Weinstein was quoted as saying:
If something comes along that’s better than condoms, I’m all for it, but Truvada is not that. Let’s be honest: It’s a party drug.
In response, Eric Leue — 2014 Mr. LA Leather and a former representative of AHF — has started a campaign on social media to #RemoveWeinstein from his position as president and CEO of AHF. He’s seeking 50,000 signatures on his Remove Weinstein petition (and has already gotten 1,300 in under a day). 
Leue, who is featured in an AHF-funded advertising campaign aimed at the leather community above, explained his position and the purpose of his petition:
This petition is not about how Weinstein or we personally feel about HIV PrEP. This petition is about whether we, the people, should be allowed access to accurate information, free of stigma and discrimination. Since 1980, HIV and its prevention has been framed in moral terms, and the people carrying the virus blamed. The head of our largest AIDS service organization should know that HIV prevention is not “a party.” With our signatures to remove Michael Weinstein as CEO and President of the AHF, we encourage the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to reconnect with the public to be able to continue their important work hand in hand with the communities they serve. We ask for 50,000 people to sign this petition, and to use the hashtag #removeWeinstein to help raise awareness for this petition.
RELATED:
Remove Weinstein (change.org)
Michael Weinstein, President of AHF, Calls PrEP ‘A Party Drug,’ Community Outraged (Frontiers)
Michael Weinstein Asked to Resign as Head of AHF in New Petition (Frontiers)
Tags: AHF, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Eric Leue, michael weinstein, Party Drug, Pettition, Truvada
luke April 17th, 2014 at 4:56 AM
Oh please. Can you say agenda? I get the porn industry does not like this guy because of lobbying for condoms in porn. But give me a break with using this story to try to get him to resign
Jack April 18th, 2014 at 11:04 PM
Eh, it’s not that simple, Luke. Weinstein is a thorn in the side of the porn industry — there’s no disputing that. But he’s got an agenda too — a financial one. AHF has turned into a puppet for the pharmaceutical industry, which is where they literally get millions of dollars in donations from each year.
anyhoo April 17th, 2014 at 8:25 AM
What needs to be purged are the people in the porn industry who telling their customers to put their faith into a drug that costs tens of thousands of dollars a year, is only 90% effective, and has serious side effects.
Let’s be honest, porn is big business. That’s what Weinstein is up against. Until there is a solution that causes the rate of HIV transmission to go down, or at the very least stops skyrocketing, Truvada in lieu of condoms is not acceptable.
Aramis April 18th, 2014 at 2:28 AM
I support Mr. Weinstein . He’s right.
James April 18th, 2014 at 9:21 AM
Why should he resign? He’s absolutely right in his opinions. What the fuck is wrong with the general population these days?
Untertasse April 19th, 2014 at 11:09 PM
Yes, James. I think you are right. I tend to agree with Mr Weinstein’s quotation: Is there anything better than condoms? Noone has ever demonstrated that to me. I don’t know who Mr Weinstein is, but his words seem to be wise.