On November 7, 2012, Americans cast their vote in the race for president. They also voted for a senate, congressional, gubernatorial, and a host of state and local offices.
But in Los Angeles, there was another initiative on the ballot that may have gotten overshadowed by some of the bigger races. The ballot initiative, called Measure B, mandates that adult film actors wear condoms when filming sex scenes.
The initiative was sponsored by the group AIDS Healthcare Foundation and sought to protect the adult film actors from contracting sexually transmitted diseases. It won approval by a margin of 11 points (56 percent - 44 percent) according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office and Yahoo News.
The initiative requires producers of pornographic movies to get a health permit from the County of Los Angeles to make their movies showing explicit sex and nudity.
To obtain that permit, actors using condoms on set would be a key condition. Permits will cost around $11,000 dollars and will be good for two years.
Most of the porn films produced in the United States are made in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles County.
A group representing those who work in the porn industry has threatened to take the entire industry out of LA County because of this new mandate. They believe the law is unconstitutional and that this issue falls under state jurisdiction and not local jurisdiction.
Most of the actors themselves actually believe the law is unnecessary. They say they "self-police" by requiring random HIV and sexually transmitted disease tests.
The group fighting against this new mandate, Free Speech Coalition, said that purveyors of porn will not buy movies that include the use of condoms. They vow to file suit and fight this law in court.
The spokesperson for this group claims the adult film industry has brought with it over 10,000 jobs and over 1 billion dollars in revenue and is definitely something LA County would not want to lose.
Though enforcement of Measure B is difficult, the permit fees porn producers will have to pay will help to finance unplanned inspections of film sets to enforce compliance with this new law.
Though California law already mandates condoms in sex scenes, it was seldom enforced. So now the voters themselves have spoken and porn works can now add condoms to their list of work supplies.
Sources:
Yahoo.com. Web. 7 November 2012. "Los Angeles mandates condom use for porn actors; Industry threatens suit."
http://news.yahoo.com/los-angeles-mandates-condoms-porn-actors-industry-threatens-002111773.html
Yahoo.com. Web. 7 November 2012.
http://news.yahoo.com/la-county-voters-mandate-condom-porn-sets-210631411--finance.html
Reviewed November 8, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith