YNOT – Late last year, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-based organization that describes itself as “a global organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to over 130,000 people in 22 countries” and “the largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the U.S.,” collected enough signatures to force a condom-usage referendum in the City of Los Angeles. Instead of spending money it didn’t have to take the measure to voters, the city preemptively passed a now-infamous ordinance mandating all performers in sexually explicit scenes wear condoms. Several other cities in the area quickly followed suit.
Flush with victory, AHF vowed to continue its condoms initiative anywhere adult production studios might consider locating.
Los Angeles has yet to devise regulations to govern enforcement of the problematic new ordinance, but AHF has moved forward with its plan. Last week, the organization announced it had collected more than enough signatures — from 360,000 registered voters — to force a ballot initiative in Los Angeles County.
According to AHF President Michael Weinstein, if voters approve the measure, a new county ordinance “will require all adult film producers operating in Los Angeles County to obtain a public health permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health…. This ordinance is modeled after the county’s similar health permitting process for tattoo and massage parlors and bathhouses. We are grateful that officials from the City of Los Angeles already acted earlier this year to adopt a similar citywide measure, and now we look forward to taking this measure directly to voters throughout the County of Los Angeles in November.
“This is not just about one industry, but about our entire community, as the spread of disease among adult film performers endangers themselves as well as their sexual partners in and outside the industry,” Weinstein added. “This is why we are bringing the question directly to voters here in Los Angeles.”
Adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition is crying foul. The adult entertainment industry is the least likely source of contagion for sexually transmitted infections in the L.A. area, according to FSC Executive Director Diane Duke. She called AHF’s relentless pursuit of the adult entertainment industry grandstanding.
“What this announcement really means is that [AHF has] spent upwards of $2 million on paid signature gatherers to get a useless bill in front of L.A. County voters,” Duke noted in a statement issued late Friday. “It is important that L.A. County voters understand the real issue behind AHF’s push for this unnecessary ballot measure: AIDS Healthcare Foundation has lost its service focus and is now in the HIV ‘business’ and will do or say anything to increase their fame and fortune. The county condom measure is just the next and the latest ‘business’ opportunity.”
FSC’s statement noted that AHF’s comparison of the adult film industry with tattoo and massage parlors and bathhouses is specious at best.
“The big difference with the adult film industry is that contact with the public occurs through television, computers and smart phones,” Duke said. “There is no direct contact with the public, so how can this be a public health issue?”
In addition, according to the FSC statement, a 152-page epidemiological profile on HIV/AIDS was distributed by L.A. County in 2010. The sole purpose of the document was to provide guidance to county-operated and non-profit organizations about the best use of resources in treating and combating HIV.
“Nowhere in that report are adult productions even mentioned,” the FSC statement noted. “The report does identify the Latino population, African Americans, the un-insured, the underinsured and people in poverty as areas of concern for HIV and targets for HIV resources. Imagine how many people could have been served with the millions AHF has already wasted on this ballot measure. Imagine how many will go un-served if the county is forced to waste its limited HIV resources on a problem that doesn’t exist.
“Since 2008, 6,300 new cases of HIV have been reported in L.A. County,” the statement continued. “None of the 6,300 cases have occurred on an adult set. The rigorous testing protocols in place have resulted in a zero on-set transmission of HIV for the past eight years. One concern raised in the County’s epidemiological profile is the number of people in L.A. County who are walking around with HIV but are untested. Testing every 28 days, adult performers are the most tested population in L.A. County.”
The FSC has vowed to continue fighting current condom mandates and opposing new ones as they arise.
