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With October right around the corner, many are gearing up to see the next installment of Lionsgate’s Saw Franchise, “Jigsaw,” coming to theaters Oct. 27.

Before the film’s tortured killings are shown on the big screen, Lionsgate has decided to tell a different horror story in the meantime: America’s blood donation policies for gay men.

“All Types Welcome,” the online ad campaign created by Tim Palen, the studio’s chief brand officer, kicked off this past Sunday. The campaign features eight social media stars, such as YouTube and Instagram star Mykie, dressed as psychotic nurses encouraging their LGBT fanbase to donate blood before the film’s anticipated release.

Palen, who started the campaign back in 2004, decided to take a different approach this time around, calling out the Food and Drug Administration for prohibiting gay and bisexual men from giving blood until abstaining from sex for at least one year.

Amanda Lepore, the transgender night life diva, and one of the eight feature models of the campaign condemned the ban stating, “it’s exclusion, and it’s ridiculous, and it’s discriminatory.”

Transgender donors have also found themselves excluded from giving blood, with The Red Cross only recently removing the guidelines of having people register at blood centers with their assigned gender at birth.

With Lionsgate having roughly 420 million followers on their social media platforms, Palen saw this as a great opportunity to recruit social media stars to tell a powerful story.

“Everyone is making content. Everyone is a creator. Everyone has a microphone. So, to have the nurse campaign play in that space and have personalities feel some ownership in the campaign felt like a great way to evolve,” Palen told The New York Times.

The blood drive begins on Oct. 5 in New York and will expand to 25 other cities in the following weeks. To find out more on how you can get involved, you can visit JigSawSaves.com


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