YNOT – Three days before a controversial statewide “condoms in porn” bill was to receive a hearing before a California Assembly committee, an equally controversial charitable organization filed an official complaint claiming a permitted adult content producer was defying Los Angeles County’s similar condom ordinance. The timing of the complaint, coupled with AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s contribution to both the L.A. County ordinance and the state bill, has adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition questioning AHF’s motives and the legitimacy of the foundation’s allegations.
The county ordinance at the heart of the issue is Measure B, narrowly approved by voters in November 2012. Among other things ostensibly designed to protect the public from sexually transmitted infections including HIV, the ordinance mandates a special permit for adult filmmakers and requires all sexually explicit performers to employ condoms and other barrier protection on-set. Measure B took effect in December, but the county has yet to finalize a protocol for inspections and enforcement.
Assembly Bill 332, a state law proposed by AHF and patterned after Measure B, was to be introduced Wednesday in the state assembly’s Arts & Entertainment Committee. The bill was tabled pending its consideration by the Labor Committee.
On the previous Sunday, AHF Research and Policy Analyst Mark Roy McGrath lodged a formal Measure B complaint with L.A. County Director of Public Health Jonathan Fielding, MD. In the complaint letter, delivered by fax, McGrath claimed AHF possessed an “anonymous letter” indicating adult studio Immoral Productions, which received a provisional health permit under Measure B, was allowing performers to engage “in vaginal and anal penetrative acts without the use of condoms.” McGrath further claimed AHF had verified the claim by reviewing content posted on ImmoralLive.com.
“Such acts are known to traumatize vaginal and rectal mucosa and significantly increase the risk of acquiring infectious diseases. Business activities occurring at Immoral Productions pose a substantial risk of bodily harm and life long [sic] disability,” the letter stated. “We consider this matter urgent and of critical importance to our overall mission and the public health of individuals in Los Angeles County.”
During a press conference on Tuesday, AHF President Michael Weinstein — a longtime critic of both the adult entertainment industry and the L.A. County Health Department — castigated the adult industry for thumbing its collective nose at the law and accused the county of willfully ignoring its own ordinance.
“We’re challenging the county in filing this complaint to come forward and say what they’re going to do,” he told reporters during a conference call. “We’re putting them to the test. If democracy means something in L.A. County — if porn producers and county supervisors are not above the law — then they will enforce it.”
Free Speech Coalition Chief Executive Officer Diane Duke indicated the whole uproar looks suspicious, particularly after the adult entertainment industry in January filed a lawsuit challenging Measure B on constitutional and other grounds.
“There hasn’t been an on-set transmission of HIV since 2004 — nationwide,” Duke said Tuesday after the AHF press conference. “Adult film industry protocols are highly effective, which is why it is so preposterous that AHF has spent millions on a problem that doesn’t exist. Moreover, AHF has yet to bring forth performers who are not on their payroll, and now an ‘anonymous’ letter [claiming violations at Immoral Productions]?”
The adult industry has embraced self-imposed health and safety regulations, including monthly STD testing for active performers and exposure-notification-and-quarantine protocols, for about 15 years. In 2010, a lawsuit brought by AHF delivered a crippling financial blow to Adult Industry Medical Healthcare, which had been the primary source of healthcare services for performers. At that time, FSC stepped in to uphold industry standards and protocols for production safety. The trade association also developed the APHSS.org database program to oversee performer STD testing.
In 2012, after an estimated $6 million dollars in campaign expenditures by AHF, L.A. County voters passed Measure B, officially known as the Safer Sex Ordinance for Adult Productions, by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent. Language on the ballot did little to make voters aware of the ordinance’s requirement for barrier protection devices, which include condoms, dental dams, goggles and gloves. Adult performers have likened that section of the ordinance to mandating they wear hazmat suits.
“Countless adult film performers have come out against AHF’s crusade as detrimental to their health and their livelihood,” Duke said. “The bottom line is that AHF’s efforts will only diminish performer safety, drive jobs out of L.A. and California, and spend valuable tax dollars on a non-issue.”
Neither the L.A. County Health Department nor Immoral Productions have commented about the complaint, which if upheld could cost the studio its permit and a $1,000 fine.
