The L.A. Condom Mobile spread a Valentine’s Day message of love on the streets of West Hollywood today by passing out free condoms to promote safe sex.
The 38-foot-long bus is handing out the official Los Angeles County condom in celebration of Valentine’s Day, which happens to also be National Condom Day, as part of the health campaign “Suit Up, L.A.,” which features a black bow tie on the wrapping.
“There’s going to be a lot of people out celebrating Valentine’s Day, so we just want to be out there,” L.A. Condom spokesman Miguel Ortiz said. “We’re going to be handing out free condoms. If they’re interested, if they don’t see us tonight, they can also go to LACondom.com. We’ll mail them condoms to their home address or wherever they want us to send them as well.”
The condom mobile made stops around West Hollywood this afternoon, and will be parked at Rage Nightclub, 8911 Santa Monica Blvd. near San Vicente, at 9:30 p.m. tonight, according to organizers.
Los Angeles County only falls behind New York City for the largest number of people with HIV/AIDS cases, according to the county. Nearly 56,000 people live with HIV in L.A. County, and there are between 1,500 to 2,500 new cases reported every year, a report released in March states. A separate 2013 report showed that sexually transmitted disease, including chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, also has grown in Los Angeles County.
