Porn's Mandatory Condom Rule in City of L.A. a Law Nobody Wants to Touch With 10-Foot Pole
When the L.A. City Council voted to require condom use at location porn sets in town, it was a huge victory for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Nate "Igor" Smith
The group has been battling for years to get the smut business to clean up its act when it comes to safe sex.
But as an account of the city's "working group" meetings that will ultimately determine how in the heck this law would actually be enforced, the area where this rubber will meet the road is,well, quite slippery:
An Adult Video News summary of the city's two condom enforcement meetings -- the last one was yesterday -- contends that none of the possible players here, including the LAPD, wants to assume the role of prophylactic police.
According to AVN:
Nate "Igor" Smith Porn stars at the AVN Awards in Las Vegas earlier this year.
... Both the LAPD and LAFD attendees [noted] that none of their inspection practices even approached the scope of those contemplated in the forced-condom ordinance, and the city personnel office stating that it had no contact with the adult industry whatsoever.
At yesterday's meeting reps of the industry blew some pretty big holes in the law, too, according to the publication:
-What would happen if a married man and woman wanted to make a video via location shoot in L.A? The city, one rep argued, would essentially be mandating birth control.
-FilmLA, which coordinates film permits for the city, doesn't ask producers whether or not their productions involve sex.
Jeffrey Douglas, chair of the adult lobbying group known as the Free Speech Coalition, noted that there are some mainstream Hollywood films that capture real sex scenes. Will FilmLA start asking if there's going to be sex? Is the city prepared to discriminate based on content or producer, thus bringing up First Amendment issues? He's quoted as saying:
... Only reflecting adult would create some of the constitutional issues that you have been alerted to.
-How would so-called "cam sites" be regulated: They beam live sex to the web, sometimes from the privacy of people's homes. Would a couple broadcasting their sessions from the city of L.A. have to use condoms? Is the city ready to inspect or even raid homes over condom use?
Stuff to think about. Read more here.
There's one more "working group" meeting -- next month.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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