OAKLAND, Calif. – More than 100 adult performers are expected to appear at a Thursday hearing during which California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) board members will vote on new regulations. The regulations would mandate performers wear not only condoms, but also dental dams, eye protection and other barriers when participating in sexually explicit scenes.
“These are unworkable regulations based in fear and stigma, not science or public health,” said Eric Paul Leue, executive director for adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition. “Cal/OSHA has repeatedly refused to listen to performers’ concerns over their health and livelihoods, and performers are rightly furious. This will be a heated hearing.”
The Cal/OSHA vote will cap a seven-year process during which performers and performer groups repeatedly have been denied a voice, according to Leue. The saga will continue at least through Nov. 8, when a companion ballot measure, sponsored by Michael Weinstein of the controversial AIDS Healthcare Foundation, will go before California voters. The measure would allow private citizens to sue performers who don’t use condoms while filming scenes.
“We are not opposed to regulation,” said Siouxsie Q, an adult performer, podcaster and newspaper columnist. “We are the most tested population on the planet, and we care about our sexual health. But regulations that prohibit 90 percent of contact between adult performers only pushes us to the margins and makes our work more dangerous.”
Performers will gather outside the Harris State Building in Oakland prior to the 10 a.m. hearing. More than 80 performers, producers, activists and healthcare advocates hope to testify against regulations during the hearing, but according to Leue, the overall crowd could be much larger.
“This is an issue that has brought together performers like never before,” he said. “Whether they currently use condoms or not, performers are coming in from all over the state for this meeting. They are passionate, and they want to make sure their voices are heard. They know that if these regulations pass [on Thursday], it may signal the end of the legal adult industry in California.”
