Mandatory Condoms in Porn Becomes Law in L.A. For Location Shoots
Updated at the bottom: They did it. First posted at 6:05 a.m.
Ed Carrasco
This will likely be the day that will live in infamy ... for people who make boom-boom cinema.
The L.A. City Council is expected to give final approval to a measure that will require condoms for porn performers who work at location shoots that are permitted by City Hall.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has been pushing for such a rule for a few years, notes that the council ...
... needs only eight (8) 'yes' votes to be passed into law.
Keep in mind that at the "first reading" of the law, only one councilman, Mitch Englander, opposed it.
The AHF calls the city rule "historic."
The group got approval from the City Clerk to put the issue before voters, and L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich took the matter to court in an effort to block the initiative from reaching the ballot.
He argued that the city could not do the state's work for it in this matter -- and that work is requiring condoms on-set.
While it's true that the state of California technically requires condoms, it doesn't enforce this so much.
The City Council decided to take the matter into its own hands by preempting the initiative and approving the proposal outright (which it can do). Trutanich appears to have gone along with this in a compromise.
The AHF has been trying to get the county to do as much or more, too. It has vowed to bring a similar measure before countywide voters. That law would apply to all county porn production, on-set and on-location.
The city rule would only apply to location shoots: Adult fare shot at studios would be exempt.
The group, however, notes that most XXX video made in this adult capital is made in creepy rich guys' houses on-location.
The industry has been fighting condoms tooth-and-nail.
It argues that if it is forced to use condoms production will go out-of-town and underground, where things would be even less safe.
Most major adult producers in L.A., at least of the hetero-porn variety, employ a once-a-month STD testing protocol that they say works.
[Update at 12:55 p.m.]: The City Council voted 9-1, with Englander again dissenting, to approve the ordinance, It should go into effect in 90 days.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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