Porn Could See Mandatory Condoms in L.A. County Under Proposed Ballot Initiative
The folks who want to force condoms on porn stars have revealed another front in their war: Los Angeles County.
In the wake of its campaign to make mandatory condom use a part of L.A. city film permits for porn shoots, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is now aiming a similar measure at voters countywide.
The city initiative was deemed to be ready to face your yes or no vote this year, but it's being challenged in court by the office of L.A. City Attorney Carment Trutanich. Meanwhile, AHF is broadening its ambition:
AHF's county initiative would, according to a statement from the group ...
...require producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health...and pay a permit fee...sufficient for necessary enforcement.
In other words, AHF, with the help of the group For Adult Industry Responsibility (FAIR), wants to see the county regulate porn the same way it polices tattoo shops, massage parlors and bathhouses.
AHF chief Michael Weinstein states:
This ballot measure is modeled after the County's similar health permitting process for tattoo and massage parlors and bathhouses. For too long, this workplace safety issue has been dodged by elected officials punting from city to county to state, and as a consequence, the health and safety of these workers has been neglected with dire consequences.
AHF is calling the initiative the "County of Los Angeles Safer Sex In The Adult Film Industry Act."
The group says it needs more than 200,000 signatures by June 5 to add the proposal to the November presidential ballot in L.A. County.
The measure wouldn't change the way the city of L.A. permits shoots, but it might make things more difficult for producers who want to avoid condoms on their L.A. county sets.
The industry has argued that mandatory condoms would force the multi-billion-dollar porn business to abandon L.A. and even head out-of-state and underground, where on-set sex would be even less safe.
Porn's leaders say its once-a-month testing of performers works. AHF begs to differ.
This morning AHF is holding a 10:30 a.m. news conference outside the Van Nuys office of L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to formally announce its latest initiative.
Write Comment
Email to Friend
Print Article
