LA Mayor Signs Porn Industry Condom Mandate
From now on, adult film industry actors in Los Angeles will have to use condoms on the set as a condition of obtaining a film permit under a first-in-the-nation requirement. The mandate was signed into law by the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday.
Los Angeles in some ways is the porn capital and the condom requirement was aimed at preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Villaraigosa signed the measure, which was approved by the City Council in a highly-watched move earlier this month, on Monday, his spokesman Peter Sanders said. It goes into effect in about 40 days.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an advocacy group and healthcare provider that pushed Los Angeles officials to adopt the requirement, said it was the first law of its kind passed by any city in the United States. “The tide of history here is pretty clear, and we're not going to stop,” AIDS Healthcare president Michael Weinstein said.
Weinstein noted the ordinance does not require condoms when oral sex is involved because his group, which originally crafted it, agreed with the filmmakers that infection through oral sex was not as great as through other sex acts. The industry already requires that actors be tested for HIV every 30 days, and filmmakers say they believe that is sufficient.
The Los Angeles City Council earlier this month voted to approve the condom requirement, after AIDS Healthcare qualified an initiative for the ballot that would have put that question before city voters in June. City officials said that by simply adopting the ordinance themselves, they avoided having to spend $4 million to hold the vote.
The city's condom requirement only applies to porn productions that approach the city for a permit, but officials said a permit was not required when filming in a soundstage. A majority of porn shoots in the city are actually done in soundstages, said Diane Duke, executive director of industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition. “The significance of this is it's government reaching into areas it doesn't belong. It's government telling us how to produce films, and it's government regulating sexual behavior between consenting adults,” Duke said.
Meanwhile, the industry was exploring moving productions to other localities outside of Los Angeles. Duke said Florida and Nevada were particularly well suited to the needs of her industry, given that they have warm weather and abundant production facilities. There are at least 1,000 porn performers in the Los Angeles area, Duke said. “I think there are many folks out there who would welcome the revenues that come with the adult entertainment industry,” she said.
“It's not that I don't doubt the sincerity of their desire to protect the talent. And believe it or not, we have the same ambition,” Christian Mann, general manager of Evil Angel Productions who also serves on the porn industry's Free Speech Coalition, said last week after the council's vote. “We just don't believe their way is the best way.”
The other big question is how the city plans to enforce the new rule. The city council has asked the Los Angeles Police Department, city attorney’s office and the state's workplace safety agency to figure out how to enforce the rule.
From now on, adult film industry actors in Los Angeles will have to use condoms on the set as a condition of obtaining a film permit under a first-in-the-nation requirement. The mandate was signed into law by the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday.
Los Angeles in some ways is the porn capital and the condom requirement was aimed at preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Villaraigosa signed the measure, which was approved by the City Council in a highly-watched move earlier this month, on Monday, his spokesman Peter Sanders said. It goes into effect in about 40 days.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an advocacy group and healthcare provider that pushed Los Angeles officials to adopt the requirement, said it was the first law of its kind passed by any city in the United States. “The tide of history here is pretty clear, and we're not going to stop,” AIDS Healthcare president Michael Weinstein said.
Weinstein noted the ordinance does not require condoms when oral sex is involved because his group, which originally crafted it, agreed with the filmmakers that infection through oral sex was not as great as through other sex acts. The industry already requires that actors be tested for HIV every 30 days, and filmmakers say they believe that is sufficient.
The Los Angeles City Council earlier this month voted to approve the condom requirement, after AIDS Healthcare qualified an initiative for the ballot that would have put that question before city voters in June. City officials said that by simply adopting the ordinance themselves, they avoided having to spend $4 million to hold the vote.
The city's condom requirement only applies to porn productions that approach the city for a permit, but officials said a permit was not required when filming in a soundstage. A majority of porn shoots in the city are actually done in soundstages, said Diane Duke, executive director of industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition. “The significance of this is it's government reaching into areas it doesn't belong. It's government telling us how to produce films, and it's government regulating sexual behavior between consenting adults,” Duke said.
Meanwhile, the industry was exploring moving productions to other localities outside of Los Angeles. Duke said Florida and Nevada were particularly well suited to the needs of her industry, given that they have warm weather and abundant production facilities. There are at least 1,000 porn performers in the Los Angeles area, Duke said. “I think there are many folks out there who would welcome the revenues that come with the adult entertainment industry,” she said.
“It's not that I don't doubt the sincerity of their desire to protect the talent. And believe it or not, we have the same ambition,” Christian Mann, general manager of Evil Angel Productions who also serves on the porn industry's Free Speech Coalition, said last week after the council's vote. “We just don't believe their way is the best way.”
The other big question is how the city plans to enforce the new rule. The city council has asked the Los Angeles Police Department, city attorney’s office and the state's workplace safety agency to figure out how to enforce the rule.
