GLAAD, GMHC to NYC: Drop PSA

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and Gay Men's Health Crisis are calling on the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to pull a graphic HIV public service announcement aimed at gay and bisexual men.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the groups consider the city-sponsored PSA to be "sensational and stigmatizing."

The Never Just HIV campaign links the disease to other health issues like cancer, dementia, and bone loss in order to end complacency about contracting the virus. The campaign will run on cable and broadcast TV for two weeks this month, and two weeks in January.

According to the Journal, Francisco Roque, director of community health for GMHC, said, "It really paints this picture of gay men as these sort of disease-ridden vessels, and so the message is really sort of, 'Stay away from gay men.'" He said the PSA, with eerie music, had a "horror movie" like quality.

A spokesman for the department said the agency had no intention of dropping the PSA, which he said some groups have supported, the Journal reports.