Downtown Orlando, this is one to put on your calendar. On Saturday, May 23, 2026, Anthem Orlando is partnering with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and Impulse Group Orlando to bring free HIV testing, free PrEP enrollment, and queer-affirming sexual health education straight to the heart of downtown — no clinic visit, no appointment, no judgment. AHF’s mobile testing unit will be parked right out front from 8 PM to midnight, and Impulse advocates will be inside the bar, out on the sidewalk, and tabling in the lounge all night long.
If you live, party, or pass through downtown Orlando, here’s what you need to know.
The basics: free HIV testing at Anthem Orlando, Saturday May 23
- When: Saturday, May 23, 2026 — 8 PM to midnight
- Where: Anthem Orlando, 100 N Orange Ave, Downtown Orlando — AHF’s mobile testing unit will be parked in the metered spots directly in front of the bar
- Cost: Free. Always free.
- Who can get tested: Anyone 18+. You do not need to be a patron of Anthem to walk up and get tested.
- What’s offered: Rapid HIV testing (fingerprick), free PrEP enrollment with telehealth and prescription delivery, education and harm-reduction materials, and resource referrals
- Bonus: Anyone who gets tested gets entered into a raffle and receives a drink ticket on the house
Pop out, get tested, and pop back in. Until 10 PM, Anthem staff can re-admit you through the dedicated Washington Street back entrance, so you don’t lose your place in the night.
Meet the partners
Impulse Group Orlando
Impulse Group is a global gay men’s health advocacy network with a chapter right here in Orlando. The local team — led by Director of Advocacy Andre and Director of Events Gian, with advocates including Ronnie on the floor — runs awareness activations across Florida nightlife, focused on getting men, especially queer men, into testing and care without the clinic-room awkwardness. They’re not new to Anthem either; much of the team are regulars on our floor. This is the first formal collaboration between Impulse Group Orlando and Anthem, and we don’t intend for it to be the last.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
AHF is one of the largest global providers of HIV care, serving millions of people across dozens of countries. In Orlando, AHF’s mobile testing unit — led by manager Mariella — brings rapid HIV testing directly to the community: bars, Pride events, college campuses, festivals. They’re the team that has been showing up for downtown Orlando consistently, and they’re the ones operating the testing on the 23rd.
Anthem Orlando
We’re an LGBTQ+ nightclub at 100 N Orange Ave, in the heart of Downtown Orlando. We see roughly 6,000 of you walk through our doors every month, and that puts us in a position — and, frankly, an obligation — to use the floor for more than just dancing. Sexual health is part of how we love our community. This is one of many partnerships we run with healthcare and harm-reduction groups, and it won’t be the last.
Why this matters in Orlando, right now
Here are the numbers the mobile unit team wants you to know: Orange County is one of the top three counties in Florida for new HIV infections, sitting just behind Broward and Miami-Dade and routinely neck-and-neck with Hillsborough. Per AHF’s local team, the vast majority of new infections statewide are in men who have sex with men, and within that group, Black and Hispanic men are disproportionately affected — both in incidence and in access to care.
That gap in access is part of why a mobile unit parked outside a downtown bar matters. The people most affected by HIV in Florida are not, on average, the people for whom a 9-to-5 clinic visit is easy to schedule. Bringing rapid testing and PrEP enrollment to the places people already are — on a Saturday night, downtown, with a drink ticket waiting — is how that gap actually starts to close.
It also matters right now because federal HIV care funding is under real political pressure. Programs like Ryan White and the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) — the backbones of affordable HIV treatment for hundreds of thousands of Americans — are facing the threat of cuts. If that care becomes harder to access, the cost gets paid first by the people least equipped to absorb it. AHF’s priority this year is getting as many people as possible enrolled on PrEP before any of that lands. Prevention now is the only thing that holds the curve down later.
What free HIV testing at Anthem actually looks like
If you’ve never been tested before, or you’ve only been tested in a clinical setting, here’s what the experience on the 23rd will actually be:
- Walk up to the AHF mobile unit on the curb in front of Anthem. No appointment needed.
- Register in about two minutes on a tablet — basic info, consent forms.
- The test itself takes about two minutes. It’s a fingerprick rapid test, not a mouth swab. The fingerprick is more accurate and the results are nearly instant.
- Get your result in roughly five minutes from when you walked up.
- If you test negative and you’re not already on PrEP, AHF’s team can start you right there. More on that below.
- If you test positive, AHF will walk you through next steps and link you directly into care that day, with full support and confidentiality.
Five minutes. That’s the whole pitch. You will not miss a single song.
Free PrEP, started on the spot
This is the part a lot of people don’t realize is possible. AHF can get you started on PrEP — pre-exposure prophylaxis, the daily medication that is up to 99% effective at preventing HIV — right there on the mobile unit, the night you get tested. The flow is:
- You take a rapid HIV test on the mobile unit.
- If your result is negative, AHF sets you up with a telehealth visit.
- The prescription is processed and delivered to you.
- It is, end to end, free.
You do not have to come back to a clinic. You do not have to navigate insurance. You do not have to come out to a primary care physician you may not have. This is the entire point of the AHF mobile model — meeting the community where it is, and removing the friction that keeps prevention out of reach.
Beyond testing: PrEP, DoxyPEP, U=U, and harm reduction
Impulse Group’s advocates will be on the floor and tabling all night with materials covering the full sexual-health picture — not just HIV testing. That includes:
- PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) — the daily pill or injection that prevents HIV before exposure
- DoxyPEP — doxycycline taken after sex to dramatically reduce risk of bacterial STIs like syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea
- U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable) — the science that people living with HIV who are on effective treatment cannot sexually transmit the virus
- Harm reduction, including Impulse’s drug-interaction chart — a real resource for the circuit and festival community on what substances do and don’t mix safely with HIV meds and PrEP
Stop by the table, take what’s useful, and ask the questions you’ve been quietly Googling. That’s what the team is there for.
The stigma we’re working against
When we asked the Impulse and AHF teams what they hear most often from people they approach about testing, the answers were honest: I get tested regularly (often not as true as people say). I don’t want to damper my night. This won’t happen to me. How could this happen, here, in America, in 2026?
So we want to be clear about a few things, on behalf of the partners and on behalf of this venue:
- Getting tested doesn’t say anything about your sex life, your number of partners, or your worth. It’s something everyone who has sex should be doing. Anthem’s team gets tested every three months — because if we’re going to ask our community to do something, we should be doing it ourselves.
- You don’t have to disclose anything to the bar. The AHF team is bound by medical confidentiality. Anthem staff don’t know who is testing and won’t ask.
- HIV is now an entirely manageable condition with treatment. People living with HIV on effective treatment have undetectable viral loads and cannot sexually transmit the virus — that’s U=U, and it is settled science.
- If you’re nervous, bring a friend. Bring your whole group. Make it the bit.
Tied to Harvey Milk Day
The activation will carry a Harvey Milk Day theme, in remembrance of May 22 — the birthday of one of the first openly gay elected officials in American history. Decor and messaging from Impulse will weave together political awareness, queer activism, and sexual health into one statement of hope. Milk’s message — that visibility itself is survival — sits at the center of why this kind of testing, at this kind of venue, on this kind of weekend, matters at all.
What else is happening that night
You’re not just walking into a testing event — you’re walking into a packed Memorial Day weekend Saturday at Anthem. The same night also features Michael Beers’ birthday bash with DJ Atabay, plus an earlier event from the bear community on the dance floor side. Translation: a steady current of friends and faces from across Orlando’s queer scene from doors to last call. There’s a reason the partners picked this date — and a reason you’ll want to be on the floor for it.
How to come through
Doors are at 8 PM. Testing runs 8 PM to midnight. The AHF mobile unit will be on the curb in front of Anthem at 100 N Orange Ave. Look for the truck, the table, and the Impulse and AHF advocates — they’re easy to spot, and they’re there to talk to you.
Tag us, share the flyer, bring your group, and pull up. Full calendar at anthemorlando.com/events.
Get tested. Get on PrEP. Stay in the conversation. We’ll see you on the 23rd.
