Gay Health Ads in Bus Shelters Are Pulled After Complaints

Responding to complaints, a company that maintains New York City's bus shelters has removed a public service ad at several bus stops in the Bronx that promoted a free health line for gays and lesbians. The ad, paid for by the Bronx Lesbian and Gay Health Research Consortium, showed two men, one with his arm around the other, above a caption that read, "I'm not gay, but I sometimes have sex with other guys," and included a number for the Health Link line.

The consortium's officials said the ad was one of three that they had paid to have displayed at 40 bus shelters around the Bronx. The ads are part of its campaign to help Bronx gays and lesbians at risk of being infected with HIV or STDs contact health care workers. Lisa Winters, founder of the Bronx health consortium, said that the advertising company, Infinity Outdoor, had approved the content of all three ads and put them up Monday morning, including about a dozen of the ads showing the two men.

The ads were to stay in place for four weeks and cost the consortium $19,000. But later that day, consortium officials said, a representative from the company called and said that the ad showing the two men -- which was displayed on heavily traveled streets -- had prompted several complaints, specifically about the ad's reference to sex, and the ads were replaced. "It's obviously on a case-by-case basis that we make these decisions," said spokesperson Dana McClintock, who said that he did not know yesterday how many complaints the ads prompted. He also did not describe the exact nature of the complaints. Winters said, "It's not at all an offensive ad," she said. "There are ads for 'Sex and the City' up all over the place. What's wrong with these posters?"

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