Unlock the Condoms!

Condoms save lives. Quote me on that. It also helps you plan when you want to create a life you are for. So condoms are good for everyone (yes even those of you who identify as female and love other females, they can cover sex toys and make for easy clean up!)

Join me in signing the CHAMP (Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project) letter to CVS CEO Tom Ryan who has locked condoms up, especially in working class communities and communities of Color. Visit the website to send the form letter. Below I have cut and pasted what the CHAMP letter says in case you want to cut and paste into a formal letter.

Mr. Tom Ryan

C.E.O., CVS Caremark Corporation
One CVS Drive
Woonsocket, RI 02895

Dear Mr. Ryan,

Our organization is part of a national coalition of community organizations, health care educators and advocates. We believe CVS Caremark Corporation’s practice of locking up condoms, especially in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, is both short-sighted and dangerous.

Health and consumer advocates coast to coast are demonstrating against CVS’s practices that stigmatize condoms and condom users and calling on CVS to unlock condoms in all communities. Coverage of our actions in the New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Daily News, Boston Globe, Miami Herald and other newspapers as well as from National Public Radio and dozens of television news broadcasts has elevated awareness of CVS’s disrespect for communities of color and fueled a growing demand for corporate reform.

We are encouraged that your corporation has taken a positive first step by unlocking condoms in its Philadelphia and Boston stores, after community demonstrations in those cities. However, it is crucial that this same access be provided to consumers in all cities and in all communities.

We urge CVS to put the health of our communities first and adopt a written policy that ensures all condoms are permanently unlocked in all communities across the country, regardless of race.

Please consider the following staggering statistics, evidence of the public health crisis our communities face:

* Nationwide, HIV/AIDS is the No. 1 killer of black American women between 25 and 34. And rates (of infection) for Hispanic women nationally are four times those of white women, while rates for black women are 15 times those of white women.
* Over the past decade, gay men and other men who have sex with men face rising rates of HIV infection, with the highest rates in young black gay and bisexual men. Nearly half - 46% - of black gay and bisexual men are believed to already be infected.
* A sexually active teenager who doesn't use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within one year, and approximately 750,000 teens become pregnant each year.
* Every year 3 million teens acquire an STD.

Clearly we cannot afford to stigmatize or limit access to condoms, creating unnecessary barriers to safe-sex practices. Your closest competitor, Walgreens, has a policy against locking up condoms in any of its stores. We hope that you will follow Walgreens’ lead in promoting better health practices in all communities.

We stand with communities across the country in saying “Cure CVS Now!” We will continue to keep a watchful eye on CVS and its role in providing care to our communities.