SAN FRANCISCO — Eric Paul Leue, the Free Speech Coalition’s executive director, is featured in a new video series on the virtues of PrEP, the medicine that offers protection against HIV infection.
Called “The PrEP Project,” the series was shot by San Francisco filmmaker Chris Tipton-King and narrated by Leue, who offers viewers a frank, engaging and revealing talk on the daily pill and HIV-prevention strategy.
Since the availability of PrEP under the Truvada label, HIV-transmission rates have fallen in some major metropolitan areas. In San Francisco, for example, new HIV cases have dropped by about 18 percent a year, according to recent statistics.
Leue, a staunch advocate of PrEP for the condom-averse, has been leading the charge for the FSC in its bid to introduce options to adult film performers in California, where state regulators are soon to decide new regulations to address occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens on porn sets.
For the adult industry, Leue has emphasized performer control along with the current PASS testing system, as well as the use of PrEP.
In “The PrEP Project,” Leue, a member of the Los Angeles County HIV Commission and former director of sexual health and advocacy at Kink.com, weaves a conversation about PrEP and sexual health, along with the truths and untruths about condoms.
Leue also goes on to speak of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and his concerns that many are placing faith in what its executive director, Michael Weinstein, has been claiming — that PrEP is a “party drug.”
Leue told XBIZ today that "The PrEP Project" was filmed in 2015 "and followed him in his role as a community activist and advocate.
"At the time, I was engaged in a host of conversations with community partners about sex, sexual health, and the various prevention options for STIs, including PrEP," Leue said. "Part of my strategy was to really be honest about my own relationship with prevention.
"HIV and sex remain taboo topics, and this lack of knowledge perpetuates stigma, discrimination and ultimately the epidemic itself. PrEP works."
Leue said that when he and Tipton-King set out on the project, they wanted to focus on science over stigma and facts over fear.
"What he created out of hundreds of hours of raw footage was a tongue-in-cheek series that avoids the clinical approach in favor of honesty and engaging with the complexities of human sexuality," Leue said.
"It's been incredibly well received, and while it was prior to my current role at FSC, I'm proud to have been part of it and be able to continue discussions about prevention in our own community."
“The PrEP Project” series consists of four episodes, running about five minutes each.
It also is available in a full-length 18-minute video here.
