YNOT – A mother and daughter who once worked as performers in the adult video industry on Monday filed suit against Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, alleging the foundation willfully violates performers’ privacy rights and discourages safer-sex practices.The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, is backed and funded by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-based mainstream advocacy organization that claims to be the largest non-profit HIV-AIDS healthcare provider in the U.S. Since late last year, AHF has been pursuing California legislators and the state’s workplace safety regulator in an attempt to force the use of condoms on all adult movie sets. In July, AHF filed a lawsuit seeking court-ordered enforcement of condom usage in Los Angeles County, where the majority of heterosexual adult studios are located.
Monday’s lawsuit, filed by AHF attorneys on behalf of Diana Grandmason, 50, and her daughter Bess Garren, seeks class-action status. Grandmason worked for about one and one-half years under the nom de porn Desi Foxx; Garren used the stage name Ellie Foxx.
During their time in the industry, both women underwent repeated AIM testing before they were allowed to perform in sexually explicit scenes, according to court documents. AIM’s sexually transmitted diseases testing protocol is voluntary, but most studios require “clean” AIM tests within 30 days of performance. Even though Grandmason and Garren paid for their own tests, they were required to sign global release-of-information forms so AIM could share the results with potential employers.
The problem, according to the lawsuit, is that AIM’s online database of performers’ test results grants access to too many people who do not have a legitimate need to know.
“AIM violates the privacy rights of performers in the adult film industry by allowing the producers of adult films online access to workers’ health care information without the individual consents and releases required by federal and California law,” the lawsuit states. “AIM knowingly and intentionally provides this private information to producers of adult films in order to facilitate the production of adult films.”
The unmonitored release of information has caused problems for some performer, Grandmason said during a Monday press conference.
“There are people who take this information and release it improperly,” she averred. “My personal health information has been released online to a popular industry blog for everyone to see.
“Despite the fact that [my daughter and I] have each been out of the industry for more than a year, it is our understanding that our private health data still remains freely — and illegally — available online at AIM’s database,” Grandmason said.
But that’s just one prong of the lawsuit’s allegations.
“AIM further jeopardizes the health and well-being of performers in the adult film industry by discouraging the use of condoms and other safer-sex practices known to prevent and dramatically reduce the spread of STDs,” the suit continues. “The actions of AIM violate Grandmason’s and Garren’s rights to privacy, the rights of individuals similarly situated to plaintiffs, and further constitute an unfair and deceptive trade practice under California law.
“AIM’s program of voluntary testing of adult film performers for some, but not all, STDs has failed to protect those performers. STDs remain rampant within the [adult entertainment] industry.”
The condoms issue is where AHF’s main interest lies, but the organization has been able to obtain little traction with California officials in that regard, possibly due to concerns stricter regulation of the adult movie industry would force a vital tax engine out of a state already suffering massive budget shortfalls. Attacking condom enforcement from a public health threat angle on several fronts may get AHF more of the attention it seeks.
Earlier this month, the Florida Department of Health launched an investigation into “sanitary nuisance” complaints AHF filed under that state’s health and safety statutes. Following California, Florida is the second-largest home to U.S. adult production studios.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation into AIM’s patient confidentiality practices based on AHF’s written complaints to that organization.
