OAKLAND, Calif. – California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health on Thursday declined to approve proposed regulations that would have required adult performers to sheath their genitals in protective coverings when shooting sexually explicit scenes.
Cal/OSHA board members voted 3-2 to dispense with §5193.1, an amendment that would have added a specific requirement for condoms, dental dams, goggles and gloves to existing regulations.
According to Eric Paul Leue, executive director of adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition, nearly 100 people spoke against the proposed regulations during the Thursday hearing. Speakers included performers, producers, doctors and sexually transmitted infections specialists.
“These regulations were based in stigma rather than science and would have severely hurt adult performers,” Leue said. The Cal/OSHA board vote “shows what can happen when producers and performers unite.”
He also indicated he doesn’t expect the five-years-long regulatory tug-of-war to completely disappear: “We look forward to working with Cal/OSHA on sensible regulation that respects performers’ choices.”
The industry will face its next hurdle in November, when a statewide ballot initiative will put essentially the same issues before California voters, in what many industry insiders see as a much more insidious way. If approved voters approve the measure, all performers in any sexually explicit material filmed in, shipped into or broadcast in California would be required to wear extensive barrier protection or face stiff fines. Even webcam performers who perform solo would be subject to the law. Rank-and-file citizens would be allowed to sue performers and studios who not appear to comply.
The initiative was constructed and pushed through political channels by AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, the same man whose complaints to Cal/OSHA precipitated the now-discarded proposed change to existing workplace safety codes.
“Now we face a larger battle, against a statewide ballot initiative which would seek to replicate and amplify the worst parts of the regulations,” Leue said. “In fact, the ballot initiative allows private citizens to sue adult performers who do not use condoms and would drive a legal industry underground where performers would be less safe. This idea — that private citizens can sue adult performers because of actions they disapprove of — is outrageous and would not be permitted in any other sector of our society.
“We will fight this, and this, too, we will win,” he said.
