By Anna Gorman and Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES — A measure that would require porn performers to wear condoms while filming in Los Angeles County was way ahead in early returns Tuesday, and supporters said they were confident that it would pass.
“There is no question about the fact that it is going to win and win handily,” said AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein. “This is a major referendum on the subject of safer sex.”
The measure is sponsored by the foundation, which has been pushing for years to protect adult film performers from HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.
The cost of the law would be paid for by porn producers, who would have to purchase a public health permit, much like tattoo parlors. Violators would be subject to fines and misdemeanor criminal charges.
Weinstein said the question now is whether the adult film industry and the county government will cooperate.
“We have shown our resolve that we are not going to give up on this issue,” he said. “Now that the people have spoken so overwhelmingly, it is the responsibility for the Board of Supervisors and the county Health Department to act immediately to enforce this law.”
Supporters of Measure B have cast the issue as one that protects worker safety — like requiring construction workers to wear hard hats — and keeps the public safe from disease.
Opponents say they don’t want the creation of an unwanted, ineffective county bureaucracy. They say the industry should be trusted to police itself, and that performers are regularly tested for disease.
They also say that consumers do not want to buy pornography in which condoms are used.
