A government-sponsored ad campaign targeting HIV awareness in France is causing controversy in some conservative areas.

The posters, which appear in bus stops and subway platforms across the country, depict gay male couples in fairly tame embraces.

An accompanying caption reads, "For life, for a weekend... With a lover, a friend, a stranger. Situations vary, so does protection.”

The mayor of Angers, about 200 miles southwest of Paris, has already ordered the posters be taken down if they are near a school. Officials in the Parisian suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois want to ban them entirely.

But Health Minister Marisol Touraine says that's censorship and she's taking the case to court to fight “for public health and against homophobia.”

“Some refuse to see two men together and want to censor this campaign? Share it!" she tweeted this week. "Your retweets are the most beautiful answer!"

The French news site BFMTV reports some posters have already been vandalized.

h/t: Politico