Page 75 - AVN January 2021

LAUREN WEINIGER ALIGNS
‘SAFELY’ WITH FSC PASS
NEW MOBILE APP BRINGS CONVENIENCE TO PERFORMER TESTING
≠ STORY: AUSTIN KING
The Free Speech Coalition announced in December that it has rubber-stamped
“Safely,” a new mobile app that can schedule STD tests for performers at thousands
of reputable labs and clinics throughout the country.
Most importantly, the results are then integrated into the PASS (Performer Availability
Screening Services) system and can be accessed by directors before they proceed
with a shoot.
Currently only two western cities—Los Angeles and Las Vegas—are aligned with
PASS, a program the Free Speech Coalition strongly encourages studios to use in
order to monitor the health of their adult stars.
With “Safely,” a performer in, say, South Carolina can book a same-day appointment
to get screened in her hometown. Before she ever gets on a plane a few days later,
her director in LA will have already viewed her results.
Along with the standard PASS panel of HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea,
trichomoniasis and hepatitis B and C, the “Safely” panel will also include a test for
COVID-19.
“If you’re a performer living in LA right next to one of the two clinics [affiliated with
PASS], you’ll probably still go there, and that’s fine,” Lauren Weiniger, Safely’s CEO
and co-founder, said.
“But we’ll have such a larger footprint. We are a national healthcare company with
labs within spitting distance of almost anywhere in the country.”
Weiniger, who grew up in Atlanta, has long been passionate about sexual health. In
high school she was part of a volunteer group who gave sex education seminars to
inner city kids and inmates at juvenile detention centers. She moved to New York after
college for a job in finance and, a bit later, biotech.
Weiniger said the idea to partner with the FSC and, thus, the adult industry came
after a chat with Alison Boden, the CEO of Kink.com and an FSC board member.
Weiniger was part of a panel discussion about women and entrepreneurship and was
introduced to Boden, who was in the audience, after the event.
“I thought it was the perfect partnership with an industry that’s long been doing what
the rest of the world should be doing in terms of testing,” Weiniger added. “They’ve
done such a great job of keeping the industry safe. There’s a lot to learn from that.”
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