New L.A. Condom Law Gains Steam for November County Ballot

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The organization behind L.A.’s new law requiring porn producers to use condoms for on-set sex said today it has over half of the more than 232,000 signatures needed to put a similar law to a countywide vote in November. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced at a press conference this morning it already has 120,000 signatures in support of the measure and still has until June 5 to get the rest. The new law would require "producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ('the Department') and pay a permit fee set by the Department in an amount sufficient for necessary enforcement." The same rules already apply to massage and tattoo parlors countywide. Brian Chase, assistant general counsel for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the group “confident” they can get the rest of the signatures they need by the June 5 deadline. Under the law condoms would be required for all acts of vaginal and anal sex during the production of adult films. Oral sex is not included in the initiative. Brian Chase, assistant general counsel for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the organization wants the industry to follow the same rules that employers nationwide are required to follow. “You know, we protect the public health in this county,” Chase said. “We protect employee safety in this county. So I think the real question ishere why does this industry, and this industry alone think it can get away with disobeying the rules that apply to everyone else.” The AIDS Healthcare Foundation claims the purpose of the measure is to reduce sexually transmitted infections by regulating the adult film industry. But the industry argues its monthly testing of performers is sufficient and worries consumers won’t buy condom porn. Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, the trade association for the adult film industry, said the measure could cause performers to be even less safe than under the current practices. “You know the concern here is if the government comes in and starts messing with regulations and mandating their own regulations the ones the work will fall to the waste side and our performers will be less safe or production will go out of the country or underground,” Duke said. Duke claims there hasn’t been a transmission of HIV within the adult film industry since 2004. A spokesman for county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, whose district includes the San Fernando Valley, a major hub for adult film making, told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that the state, not the county, should regulate the condom issue. The state already has a law on the books mandating condom use in adult films, but has not seemed to have the resources to enforce it.