MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — State Senator Shevrin Jones is responding to a false and homophobic text message being sent to voters in Florida’s 24th congressional district.

“I was like, ‘wow,’” Jones said. “Now that’s low.”

The message targets Jones, an openly gay candidate for Congress, by falsely claiming he has HIV.

“First, the message is false,” said Jones. “I am not HIV positive, but I want to be very careful about how I respond to that, because I refuse to defend myself in a way that stigmatizes somebody else.”

The text claims Jones was denied the chance to donate blood to a COVID survivor because he had HIV and links to a real news story from 2020, but that story makes no mention of HIV.

Jones was actually turned away under a federal blood-donation policy in place at the time, restricting donations from gay and bisexual men.

That policy has since changed.

“HIV is not something to be ashamed of and being gay does not mean someone has HIV,” said Jones. “What somebody did was take an old dangerous stereotype about gay people and HIV and weaponize it for political purposes.”

The message also claims it was “paid for by Equality Florida” which is an LGBTQ advocacy group that has endorsed Jones, but the group says it did not send or pay for the text and is now trying to determine who did.

Two of Jones’ major opponents are also condemning the message.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert called it a “lie” and said the message was “hateful, homophobic and vile rhetoric.”

Kendrick Meek Jr. also spoke out against the text, calling it a “fraudulent, homophobic smear” and saying South Florida “deserves better.”

With the Aug. 18 primary now just one week away, Jones says he doesn’t know who is responsible for the false text, but wants them held accountable.

“People deserve to know actually who paid for it and who sent it,” he said. “It’s dangerous, it’s uncalled for and we should not allow people to get away with that type of behavior.”

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