LA Commission on HIV Formally Opposes Condom Measure

LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles County advisory body the LA Commission on HIV joins a number of HIV and AIDS advocacy groups in taking a stance against the "Safer Sex in Adult Film Act" slated to appear on California's November voting ballot. The Commission voted unanimously to recommend opposition to the act—which would mandate the use of condoms in all adult productions throughout the state of California—to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors. Adult performers joined the Commission in testifying to the Board of Supervisors at its meeting this week, citing key flaws of the initiative including: • a lawsuit enforcement privision that would allow private sitizens to sue adult performers if a condom is not visible in a finished adult production • the risk of driving the adult industry undergound, where production would become less safe • poor safeguards for performer health and safety. "This measure would not result in safer sets, but instead would push a legal industry underground and out-of-state, and performers into the shadows," commented Karen Tynan, an attorney and member of Californians Against Worker Harassment, a political action committee formed to oppose the measure and sponsored by the Free Speech Coalition. "This initiative is not about protecting adult workers, it's about one man's inexplicable crusade to control the content of adult film," Tynan added, referring to AIDS Healthcare Foundation chief Michael Weinstein, who created the bill. Tynan noted that the similar Measure B ballot initiative passed in Los Angeles in 2012 resulted in a 95 percent drop in adult film permits. Other groups that have registered formal opposition to the Safer Sex in Adult Film Act include the Adult Performer Advocacy Committe (APAC), AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), the San Francisco Democrats, the Califonia Republican Party and the Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA).