Push To Make Condoms Mandatory On Porn Shoots Expanding
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A battle over an initiative mandating condom use in porn shoots was developing on a new front Tuesday.
"What is clear is that the performer population carries a disproportionate amount of the community disease burden," Foundation representative Brian Chase said.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has collected nearly double the number of signatures necessary to pass a city initiative seeking to force male adult film actors to wear condoms while performing.
Representatives for the Foundation say the initiative is critical.
"This is an issue of fairness," said Michael Bernstein, the president of the Foundation. "This is an issue of worker protection. This is not an issue of sex and pornography."
But the L.A. City Attorney's Office has filed a lawsuit against the same initiative that's already qualified for a special election in June.
"County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky supports a requirement to use condoms in porn shoots. But the county lacks the legal authority to enforce it," Yaroslavsky's representative Joel Bellman said. "Yaroslavsky has been advised by legal counsel that the proposed initiative is preempted by state law."
The L.A. County Health Department said they will continue to take action to address sexually transmitted diseases in the porn industry, including monitoring, surveillance and investigations of reportable cases.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation says the initiative would require porn producers to obtain a health permit and pay a permit fee that would cover the cost of enforcement.
"Not one taxpayer dollar would go into this," Bernstein said.
Some citizens support the effort to make the industry and its actors safer.
"I think the health of all our citizens is pretty important so if it's a health issue I'm probably for it," said L.A. County resident Tom Hazel, who supports the initiative.
Other people disagree with the movement.
"It's America, we're supposed to have freedom. If the industry doesn't want to do it they shouldn't make them, they shouldn't be forced to," said L.A. resident Jack Evans, who opposes the initiative.
But adult-film-actor-turned-entrepreneur Sascha Koch said passing this initiative would be bad for business.
"If someone wants to watch a porn, he doesn't want to see a condom," Koch said.
Koch says when other porn makers instituted condom policies, their sales dropped. "Now it's only one company left that actually uses condoms," he said.
CBS2's Jay Jackson reported the $12 billion dollar-per-year adult film industry has successfully fought condom law efforts in the past. This despite the fact that 22 actors have tested positive for HIV since 2004.
Koch said adult films will be made without condoms outside the city.
"That's not gonna change," Koch said.
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City Measure Mandating Condom Use In Porn Qualifies For June Ballot
