Porn Stars To Persuade Calif. Lawmaker Condoms Are Bad For Adult Video

We thought the standard protocol for swaying lawmakers was to sic highly paid lobbyists on them, flood them with campaign contributions, and ply them with golf trips and single malt. And then bring in the hookers (and/or manwhores).

This could work, though:

Following a Valentine's Day press conference in which L.A. area Assemblyman Isadore Hall announced he's going to propose that condoms become mandatory throughout the entire Golden State for porn production, the adult industry lobby responded.

Free Speech Coalition CEO Diane Duke indicated in a statement that the multi-billion-dollar, L.A.-based industry she represents will bring out its most-potent and legislatively versed weapon, the porn star:

We look forward to Assembly Member Hall visiting with adult film stars in the coming weeks to learn more about the exhaustive safety precautions already used by the industry.

Ed Carrasco

Yeah (scratches chin), safety.

Seriously, the industry has resisted condoms based on the argument that consumers won't buy prophylactic porn. Additionally it has said that production companies will simply move out-of-state and take their money with them. Or they'll go underground, where sex would be even less safe.

So far, though, it has been all talk. You, the L.A. county voter, passed a law in November that requires condom use on porn sets in most parts of greater L.A. We've sensed no production-house moves out of the county yet (if you know something, let us know).

Duke complains that the statewide effort, also spearheaded by the folks you brought you county condoms, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, is a waste of tax dollars.

She might be right, although the AHF would remind you that the issue could ultimately be about life and death.

Duke:

Tragically, this law - if passed - will not only waste taxpayer dollars and compromise the effective performer health protocols already in place, but also compromise funding for critical HIV programs by diverting program funds to create an unnecessary condom-police bureaucracy. Additionally, this regulation would force an industry vital to the San Fernando Valley and to California's economy out of the area.

She concludes that "NO transmissions of HIV have occurred on an adult set since 2004.... NATIONWIDE!"

Her caps. Not ours.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]