About 75 community members gathered Feb. 8 as the Chicago PrEP Working Group celebrated the launch of its #PrEP4Love campaign with a reception at West Point Missionary Baptist Church, 3566 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, among young gay Black men, as well as cisgender and transgender Black women, among others, and features models from those demographics. The initial ads were rolled out in various Chicago locations Feb. 1.
A panel discussionwith Oakland, California-based activist Rob Newells moderatingfocused on three of the models photographed in the campaign: Elijah McKinnon, Shaquan Gray and Chad Chaney.
McKinnon was one of the people who worked on developing the campaign. "In the beginning, I had no interest in being in the campaign because I was so heavily invested in producing it," said McKinnon, adding that colleagues persuaded him to change his mind.
Gray, who is a minister, said, "So often we think churches don't talk about sex, but I thought we had to talk about being sex-positive ...I wanted to see if I could help bring to light that God loves us no matter what, no matter what we do."
Chances Dances, Youth Empowerment Performance Project and Darling Shear provided entertainment for the evening. Mister Wallace was emcee.
For more information, visit PrEP4love.com or call 872-215-1905.
See related coverage at the link: www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/PrEP4Love-campaign-launched/54169.html .