from http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Despite strong outcry against it from the adult film industry, a measure requiring porn performers to wear condoms on set was passed by LA County voters Tuesday.
The "Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act’," or Measure B, passed 56 percent to 44 percent, with 100 percent of precincts reporting. In addition to mandating condoms, it will require porn producers to apply for a permit from the LA County Department of Public Health to shoot sex scenes. The fee will finance periodic inspections of porn filming, and violations will be subject to civil fines and criminal misdemeanor charges.
James Deen, a 26-year-old award-winning porn superstar, commented to The Huffington Post about the passage of Measure B. "I am disappointed. Not particularly about the law but about my community of adult entertainers being continually bullied and used by others," he wrote in an email.
"It will be interesting to see what happens next. People will most likely move production out of Los Angeles and take out tax money with us," Deen wrote. "Hopefully this measure passing will help us get more organized in the future and that, along with Los Angeles losing our business, will allow people in politics to start seeing us as an asset."
Christopher Ruth of Fine Ass Marketing, a PR firm specializing in adult films, also told HuffPost that he thinks some porn filming may relocate. "Now the adult film industry has some tough choices to make, including appeals and possible relocation, which will take thousands of jobs and tax revenue out of Los Angeles and California," Ruth said.
Measure B was spearheaded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which says that STDs in the industry are a public health concern and that actors’ safety is not being respected. Some porn actors, particularly those who have contracted HIV on set, agree.
However, many in the porn industry think that condoms are unnecessary because the industry already conducts regular STD checks. They also say that condoms would hurt their profit and drive the industry either out of LA or underground, creating even more unsafe conditions.
Perhaps most loudly, some adult film performers have said that Measure B infringes on their rights and freedom to do what they want with their bodies.
"We are much like the homosexual, minority or female populations," Deen told HuffPost. "We are a community of tax-paying and law-abiding voters who are currently being persecuted. But our opinions do matter, and I hope one day we get respect as these previously-stated groups and others have begun to receive."
Let the legal challenges begin! Whether this measure ultimately stands or not, it will prove to be completely unenforceable. I can’t wait to watch L.A. city/county stumble into this financial and administrative nightmare. It’s going to be more entertaining than watching an old Keystone Cops comedy. The voters get what they deserve.
I know none of u give a fuck but prop 37, which would’ve provided warning labels about genetically modified/warped Frankenstein foods, was defeated, due, apparently, to huge money spent by corporations. I compare this to AHF’s big money spent. But who is against warning labels for GMO foods and who is for condom-only porn? What gives?
The opponents of Prop. 37 were successful due to hammering the issues of it’s costs to the consumer—whether accurate or not, since, you know, facts are buried by campaign ads—at a time of financial struggle for most Americans. Voters should know that if the big corporations are for or against something, then it should be seriously under question.
Yeah, that’s what I figured, despite opinions on 37 leading on the Yes side until voting time… the “alleged” financial costs, in spite of the human and long term health n financial costs of humans becoming genetically modified organisms, themselves.
Yeah if big corporations are FOR something you can rest assured it most likely is NOT going to be a good thing for the average consumer.
Any legal challenges will be defeated. It is not unconstitutional to regulate an industry. There is a rational basis, hence this will stand. if there are legal challenges, the only ones that benefit are the lawyers on both sides, and the courts, where there will be plenty of legal fees, and court fees, for naught. at the same time challenge the law that requires all drivers to buy auto insurance if they want to drive, having to wear a helmet or you will ticketed while cruising on a motorcycle on PCH, having to wear a Hard hat on construction site, mandatory in hospitals that you will wear masks when treating certainly ill patients. The people that tried to fight this had no cogent or compelling arguments.
Now for James deen to use him as a poster boy is ridiculous, he is a talented porn actor. nothing else. No education, no knowledge about medicine.
James Deen, to The Huffington Post about the passage of Measure B. “I am disappointed. Not particularly about the law but about my community of adult entertainers being continually bullied and used by others,” he wrote in an email.
Who is he talking about? who is bullying the entertainers but the porn agents, producers, escort agency owners that call and yell at the porn talent to get over to see a client, certainly the state of California is not bullying them, and what does he mean used by others? The industry uses them, this is the craziest industry where there are no royalties, just flat fee. This is what I mean about where his lack of education comes into play.
Next he states:
“Hopefully this measure passing will help us get more organized in the future and that, along with Los Angeles losing our business, will allow people in politics to start seeing us as an asset.”
I think if porn has not organized by November 2012, it will never be organized. what does a law that requires wearing condoms to protect ones health have to do with organization. the porn talent is too uneducated, mentally ill, and there is no doubt about that. all this talent are mental health issues.
I am not preaching against porn just stating facts. I don’t no one success story of a porn talent after they leave industry. The industry stigmatizes them, which exacerbates any psychiatric or emotional illness they have had prior to entering business.
Thank you for saying my piece.
*sigh*
Great.
So both Prop 37 and Measure B failed (as in mandatory condoms).
WTF? I was so certain 37 would win. With this becoming law it opens the gates to lab grown meats hitting markets (granted this would be a few years away). Would they even label them?
As for porn… I only have 53 titles in my collection; most from 3rd Degree, Platinum X, Elegant Angel and a few from Jules Jordan (since they’re more expensive). I have ton of stuff I would like to add to my DVD library – which could now be pre-2013 titles, exception on the stuff made outside of Los Angeles.
The whole thing from outside the industry is stupid (I’m just a fan), some self-righteous trolls trying to make themselves look all important or worse yet, trying to give their existence(s) meaning by trashing others. ‘Hey look at me! I just took your baseball away, no more games for you.’
Seriously, I thought 37 would win.
Hey commonsense – I can name a couple right off the bat:
Kylie Ireland
Christy Canyon
I think commonsense is correct in his first paragraph.
but after that, I have no idea what he’s saying.
Commonsense, you made too many dumb and fact-less points to address; anyway, they’ve already been previously addressed here, ad nauseum. Now go find another issue to troll about. Facts, my ass.
The longer this is tied up in court, the longer it will be that enforcement is delayed. It’ll be longer still before the city and county will figure out how to make this work, or find the money to do any of it. Thinking that the fees from permits will cover the cost of implementation is simply ludicrous. The taxpayers have been duped by special interests, yet again. I’d like to see a shitload of freedom-fighting condomless content challenging the resources L.A. officials in the year to come.
SAY NO TO RUBBERED PORN!
The best legal argument I have read is that Diane Duke says this is a jurisdictional issue: The state, and not local authorities, has the jurisdiction to mandate condom use. I have no idea who has jurisdiction for public health and workplace safety in California – for instance, can the Los Angeles County health department make its own regs about inspecting restaurants? Or is that defined by the state? If its a state issue and not a local issue, then she may have a chance. Its high risk, however. It may invite a battle at the state level that would end up in a state-wide mandate.
I’d also note that her press release on filing suit does not say, there is not public health issue; talent aren’t employees, they’re self-employed contractors; this isn’t a workplace issue because they know the risks going in; this will cause more STDs because condoms will break; etc.
bobt03, where is this legal argument by Diana Duke?
I am not a lawyer but I think the only way Measure B can be overturned is if it proven to be a violation of the Free Exercise Clause of 1st Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th…
They best way to do that is to emphasize the tyrannical nature of the law and PROVE to the courts that adult production companies are not negligent towards the health of performers. The only way to convincingly do that is to make the STD rate go down and performer unionization is key.
comment deleted
Honestly, common_sense, usually you are on some rant about Fattorosi but you made a good comment. People in porn have no concept of ethics, morality, or virtue–and that has to change.
The jurisdictional argument, origen, is mentioned in Diane Duke’s letter to the LA County Board of Supervisors, sent following the election results. This argument has been raised in the past as well; even the LA City Attorney raised it last year.
bobt03 – Enforcement of workplace safety laws falls to Cal/OSHA on the state level, and they’re already in the picture with a set of industry-inappropriate regs. These same regs (Title 8, sec 5192, for example) are the BASIS of the new County law. The difference is, under state law, OSHA can only apply them to the situations where they were meant to be applied — the employer-employee relationship — while the county law, poorly drafted by AHF, applies them to all persons, even married couples or business partners. So, therefore, there is no risk in raising a stink at the state level (they’re already involved) and the jurisdictional argument is a good one.
You ask, “can the Los Angeles County health department make its own regs about inspecting restaurants?” The answer is yes, because those are not workplace regs for businesses on private property, they constitute regs impacting establishments OPEN TO THE PUBLIC — thus the county health department has a public health mandate. Porn sets are NOT open to the public, the way restaurants of tattoo shops are. There is no legitimate public health basis for this law — a law which has at its core Cal/OSHA workplace regs designed for Cal/OSHA workplace enforcement. Permitted film set inspections are the province of the permit department, the police (primarily traffic/parking), and the fire department.
origen, while I think everyone would like to see the STD rate improved, you misstate the legal standard. It is not incumbent upon the adult industry to PROVE anything of the sort. It is the burden of the government entity seeking to restrict the 1st and 14th amendments to demonstrate a sufficient level of state interest in doing so. To meet that burden they must be able to prove the injury being done at work — on sets. NO STI TEST can show where sexually active people in LA County acquired common STIs such as the clap. Performers are not a distinct population locked up on site like Nevada brothel workers, so correlation does not equal causation. The state, as a matter of law, cannot show an interest in that which it cannot prove.
That said, it would be a great idea, legally, ethically and otherwise, to broaden STI testing to include oral and anal swapping. It’s the kind of thing that responsible businesses do in response to medical data.
So is this measure applicable to independent contractors, or not?
I don’t think the jurisdictional argument is going to fly. The county can pass whatever type of ordinance they want–even if it overlaps with a statewide agency’s jurisdiction–just as long as the ordinance doesn’t abridge the State or US Constitutions.
And let’s not embolden AHF to go on their statewide initiative. That would be a real disaster.
This measure applies to everyone who is engaged in shooting for profit — and it improperly extends a regulation which applies only to employers/employees, to all persons.
If the shoot has a commercial purpose, as written the law applies. Weinstein has lied and said it only applies to people who are being paid to perform, but that is NOT how the measure reads. Not even close. And it extends liability to an extremely broad range of people as “producers.”
BTW, aren’t you supposed to be at the FSC Summit, Michael?
origen — Possibly the state legislature can delegate such authority to a county, but it’s not for the county to decide to usurp state authority. To do so abridges the state constitution, and other state law.
There is no statewide health department, origen, so your point about emboldening AHF is ridiculous.
Why would I need do attend the FSC Summit? — it’s for producers and retailers. I may, however, attend the Measure B discussion, two hours from now.
No, AHF is already poised to promote launching a statewide enforcement and inspection regime…presumably through Cal-Osha. Regulators hate regulating porn but they would be forced to with a statewide referendum. The adult industry must prepare to fight against this measure immediately–a crucial part in doing so is proving that performers are safe.
Shit like the syphilis outbreak must never happen again.
Cal/OSHA enforcement comes in response to complaints, origen. That’s why AHF is trying to do this on the county level. Haven’t you been paying attention? That was the whole point of AHF moving to the county and city level.
When was the last time the average voter had a syphilis test or a PCR-RNA? Nine cases of syphilis in the adult industry vs thousands in the general population of LA County, and you think the most important thing is for porn to prove that performers are safe… This measure will distract steer health resources away from helping under-served communities.
LA County voters were largely uninformed and acted in knee-jerk fashion “Oh, it’s promoting Safer Sex – that must be good.” It was that simple.
origen — I want you to know that I took your questions/concerns about jurisdiction and pre-emption seriously enough to speak to three attorneys (based in three different states) about it earlier today, at the FSC panel on the ramifications of, and responses to, Measure B. They unanimously agree, on more than one legal basis, that pre-emption a winning argument.
The sole rationale that AHF has had for its theory of local action on state matters is a letter from its buddy, a Cal-OSHA attorney, telling the LA City Council that they didn’t mind if the Council went ahead and regulated porn production sets. It is not the place of Cal-OSHA to make that decision; it’s a job for the California legislature, as limited by the California constitution. If you’ll recall, even the LA City Attorney took the position that such action was pre-empted by state law.
Considering the fact that LA County government (with the exception of one man, the pro-censorship Dr. Peter Kerndt of LACPH) wants NOTHING to do with regulating and supervising porn, it is quite likely that the County will also support/encourage the move to kick regulation back up to Cal/OSHA when the lawsuits start to fly. The County already anticipates that it is going to be sued by AHF no matter what it does in terms of implementation rules and enforcement, and they have every incentive to want out as soon as possible. As ridiculous as the Cal/OSHA regs have been up to this point, being under OSHA jurisdiction has been something the industry has been able to live with.
These fucking condom nazis. A song needs to be made about it. The idea that there’s 3 people in a room and they all agree to participate in bareback sex on camera and that they’re somehow criminals. They’re independent contractors. They’re expressing their right of free sexual expression. We should sooner ban drug users and drinkers and cigarette smokers before we ban bareback performers. Money bought the votes against props 37 calling for protection through information about genetically modified frankstein foods, and for measure B, a clear violation of the right to mutually consensual free expression. This is sick. Fuck You, Weinstein and the evil, corrupt AID$ industry. Booo!
Wow, Michael. Thank you for that clarification. That is a strong argument…
Today, Weinstein announced that he plans to seeking a lawmaker in Sacramento to support state legislation that would “empower local public health departments to enforce safety laws on condom use on porn sets.”
This constitutes an explicit acknowledgement that Measure B is pre-empted by state law, insofar as local public health departments are currently NOT empowered to enforce safety laws on condom use on porn sets.
The other, ongoing, problem is, local public health departments don’t want the job.
I’ve been saying all along that Weinstein plans on making this condom issue a state wide thing. Then after that he will go to FLA or NEV or wherever else. Wherever porn goes to shoot he will try and get legislation passed so everyone wears a condom to shoot.
His problem lies in attracting political support to drastically restructure the various state OSHAs — a lengthy and costly undertaking — to fix a problem that isn’t there in an industry that creates significant economic activity, during a time of big budget shortfalls. People are dying falling off scaffolds on construction sites and there’s still no political will to boost OSHA budgets in order to expand enforcement.
Weinstein has little political capital in the various state legislatures; I doubt an 11-9 win in a race he funded himself, with NO political party or other endorsement support, will suffice to make this attractive to many lawmakers.
His goal is merely to keep his name in the papers as long a possible. Campaigns and threats of lawsuits are the tactics — PR for himself and AHF, in a time of shrinking budgets for AIDS funding (and lower donations due to the economy), is the goal.
I’ll never forget Gloria Molina a LA county Supervisor saying ” Don’t let the door hit you on the ass, on the way out. If they only know how much money they will lose.
Californians are morons. They elected a muscle head actor as Governor and now they approved B when cities, counties and generally the whole state are just about bankrupt.