Activists seek to put porn actor condom requirement on California ballot

[February 19, 2015]  By Michael Fleeman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Healthcare activists critical of adult film industry practices are working to put a measure before California voters next year to require porn actors to use condoms during film production, expanding a Los Angeles County rule that survived a legal challenge.

The proposed ballot measure, aimed at protecting actors from sexually transmitted diseases, would require film companies to be licensed by the state and would impose fines of $70,000 for offenders. It would also allow actors to sue producers who violate the rule, supporters said on Wednesday.

Under a final draft of the measure filed with the state on Tuesday, film companies would have to post warning signs visible to performers stating that California law requires condom use for "all acts of vaginal or anal intercourse during the production of adult films."

"We're trying to protect both performers as well as those who would interact with performers and keep everybody safer as a result of safe sex,” said Bradley Hertz, an attorney for the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which is sponsoring the measure.

Backers of the measure must obtain 365,880 signatures by September to qualify it for the November 2016 ballot, and signature-gathering may begin after a month-long comment period.

The proposal is similar to a condom mandate approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2012 and upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals following objections by the adult film industry.

The industry trade group, the Free Speech Coalition, opposes condom requirements, saying they could drive film production underground or to other states and that the industry’s own health protections are effective.

“The people in our industry are the most highly tested folks out there. It’s much safer to be an adult performer than to be just a single person out at the bars,” said Diane Duke, chief executive officer of the Free Speech Coalition.

The coalition oversees testing of performers for HIV and maintains a pass-fail database of about 6,000 people. It says there have been no documented cases of HIV transmission in sex scenes by professional actors in the database in over a decade.

But in Nevada, health officials said last month they were considering imposing regulations, similar to those on the books for the state’s legal brothels, after two male performers tested positive for HIV following a shoot there. The Free Speech Coalition says those performers were not in its database.

(Reporting by Michael Fleeman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Beech)

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