L.A. county porn shoots must use condoms
Los Angeles County voters have passed a measure to require porn actors to wear condoms on movie sets.
The California Secretary of State about 56 percent of voters approved the measure, known as Measure B or "Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act," CBS station KCBS in Los Angeles reported.
Pornographic producers will have to apply and pay for a permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Health before shooting a movie. They also will be subject to random inspections from the department to check if the performers are wearing condoms. Fines will be imposed on people who don't comply.
The idea of allowing a government employee to come and examine our genitalia while we're on set is atrocious," Amber Lynn, an adult film actress, told the Pasadena Star News at an anti-Measure B rally Sunday in North Hollywood.
California and New Hampshire are the only two states that legally allow adult films to be produced. Previously, the permit was required in Los Angeles city, but now the regulations will be expanded to 85 other cities in Los Angeles county.
The measure was supported by the The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which argued that condoms would help protect the performers.
But, the Los Angeles Times opposed the measure, saying that demand for unprotected sex in films will just increase the number of people who will circumvent the law, leading to more underground and possibly unsafe performances. Earlier in March 2011, Hustler was fined $14,175 for not using condoms in their Los Angeles city porn shoots. The company's owner Larry Flynt argued that people don't want to see condoms in porn.
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They pointed out that the industry has stringent rules when it comes to testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and requiring condoms would not really add much more protection.
But, The AIDS Healthcare Foundation saida 2004 HIV scare and a 2012 syphilis scare that temporarily shut down the industry and infected at least nine was enough evidence that testing in the porn industry wasn't working.
Other opponents argued the permit requirement would have economic repercussions and lead to a mass exodus of porn productions from southern California, many of which take place in the San Fernando Valley.
