The Project PrIDE campaign is the city’s first-ever health campaign directly reaching out to African American and Hispanic members of the LGBTQ community. The empowering campaign features 21 ambassadors, real-people with real stories, who provide a positive look into their personal journeys and commitment to living healthier and longer lives.

The Houston Health Department (HHD) hosted the event to introduce the 21 ambassadors and highlight some of the campaign’s beautifully executed, authentic and inspirational creative, personal stories and PSAs. Among the public figures scheduled to speak were Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, HHD Director Stephen L. Williams, Assistant Director of the HHD Disease and Control and Prevention Division Marlene McNeese and a representative of Houston METRO. The event’s entertainment itinerary included the celebrity DJ B-HEN, known as “Hollywood’s Champion of the New Sound.” As one of the nation’s most sought-after celebrity DJs, B-Hen has made his mark as a recurring DJ on ABC’s Good Morning America, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals and New York Fashion Week.

In recent years, the city of Houston has been ranked 11th nationwide and first in Texas in the rate of newly diagnosed HIV cases. In fact, a steadily rising number of HIV cases among the LGBTQ community’s African-American and Hispanic populations has become one of the top health crises not only in the Houston area, but specifically throughout the southern United States. PrEP is a prescribed antiretroviral drug that helps to prevent HIV for those most vulnerable to HIV transmission. TasP involves using HIV medicine and antiretroviral therapy (ART), to decrease the risk of HIV transmission for those living with HIV.