State Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democratic congressional candidate in Florida's 24th District, is denouncing a false and homophobic text message sent to voters that falsely claims he has HIV.
"I was like, wow. I said, now that's low," Jones said.
The text targets Jones, who is openly gay, by falsely alleging he was denied the chance to donate blood to a COVID-19 survivor because he had HIV. It links to a real news story from 2020, but the story does not mention HIV.
Jones explained that he was turned away under a federal blood-donation policy in place at the time, which restricted donations from gay and bisexual men. That policy has since changed.
"First, the message is false. I am not HIV positive, but I want to be very careful about how I respond to that, because I refuse to defend myself in a way that stigmatizes somebody else," Jones said.
He also addressed the harmful stereotypes perpetuated by the message.
"HIV is not something to be ashamed of and being gay does not mean someone has HIV. What somebody did was take an old dangerous stereotype about gay people and HIV and weaponize it for political purposes," Jones said.
The text claims it was paid for by Equality Florida, an LGBTQ advocacy group that has endorsed Jones. However, the group denies any involvement and is investigating the source of the message.
Two of Jones' major opponents have also condemned the text. Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert called it "a lie and hateful, homophobic and vile rhetoric."...
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