Gay Australian MP Stephen Bates joins OnlyFans to campaign for free PrEP
Bates justified the move, saying: "Sometimes you have to make a splash to make people pay attention to the things that matter”
By Gary Grimes
Stephen Bates, an MP in the Australian Green Party, has ruffled feathers after joining OnlyFans.
Bates, who previously successfully campaigned for election in 2022 with a campaign which incorporated ads on Grindr, has joined the adult content creator platform to campaign for the roll out of free PrEP.
“Ending HIV is too important to fly under the radar,” Bates said, in a recent interview with QNews. “I campaign on OnlyFans and Grindr because it gets attention.
“Sometimes you have to make a splash to make people pay attention to the things that matter.”
PrEP, which stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, is a medication taken by HIV-negative individuals to prevent HIV infection. It is currently available to Australians via the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), a government programme that subsidises the cost of prescription medicines.
“While PrEP is on the PBS, the gap payment can add up to hundreds of dollars a year,” Bates explained. “In a cost-of-living crisis, that’s just too much.
“You shouldn’t have to pay a fortune to be sexually responsible,” he continued.
In 2022, Bates made headlines around the world by running campaign ads on Grindr with cheeky slogans such as “The Best Parliaments are hung”; “Spice up Canberra with a third”; and “You always come first with the Greens.”
“It is a big place of community where a lot of people do come together” – Stephen Bates on Grindr
Following his election, he told radio station B105 that he felt the campaign strategy was crucial to his success.
“As weird as it will sound to any gay person [hearing] this, it is a big place of community where a lot of people do come together,” he said of Grindr.
Bates’ OnlyFans launch has received praise from Green Party leader Adam Bandt. “When it comes to saving lives, you need to talk to everyone you can and if that means using inventive measures to reach audiences with a plan that will save lives, then I think we should do it,” Bandt told News.com.au.
You can subscribe to Bates’ OnlyFans channel for free here.