Performer Health Issues Heat Up in the Adult Industry

A trade organization for the adult entertainment industry is creating a program to provide health services for adult performers following the closure of a clinic that long served the industry. The Free Speech Coalition said it plans to partner with existing doctors for testing of sexually-transmitted diseases and training on disease prevention. The coalition also will provide a database of performer availability. “This is critical,” said Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition. “For our industry you just don’t show up at any clinic.” Medical discussions must address the performer’s health care needs, and testing should be done in an environment that is respectful, Duke said. The organization is scheduled to meet with performers, producers, and agents on May 26 to go over details of the program, she said. Health and safety regulations on adult film sets have become a dominant issue in the industry in recent months. State and city officials are considering ending the industry’s self-policing testing policy and enforcing condom usage during filming. Some in the industry predict enforcement would drive adult producers out of the state or to go underground. The issue is heating up. Earlier this month, the AIM Medical Associates clinic in Sherman Oaks closed, taking away a facility that served hundreds of performers each month. A week later, former adult performers and representatives from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation went before a Los Angeles City Council committee to push for a regulation that would connect film permits for adult productions and mandatory condom usage. In June, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health will hold its last meeting on new regulations specific to adult film shoots. This fall, the Cal/OSHA standards board will decide whether to adopt the new regulations or maintain existing ones. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is expected to square off against adult performers and producers at the June meeting with Cal/OSHA. The foundation’s president, Michael Weinstein, is a vocal critic of the self-policing model and advocates for condom enforcement in adult films. All the foundation wants is for the law to be enforced in an industry it contends spreads disease through unprotected sex, Weinstein said. The testing adult performers rely on is not a substitute for a condom, nor does it afford the same protection, he said. “People are being harmed in these films,” Weinstein said. “We do not allow that in Hollywood, so why do we allow it for these films?” Adult industry representatives counter the approach by Weinstein and AHF by emphasizing the industry knows best what regulations it should follow. “We want to have a situation where companies and performers have choices and provide for their safety in many different ways, and not just in one way,” said Karen Tynan, an attorney working with the Free Speech Coalition on the Cal/OSHA regulations. Sherry Ziegelmeyer, a publicist who works with adult companies, is convinced that any decision from the state is years away. It is more likely the city will step in with condom enforcement sooner, she said. Ziegelmeyer, who also consults fledgling adult production companies, says when meeting those clients she lays out what the state requires on sets to ensure safety. She says she has no problem with condoms in adult films, but leaves the final decision to those making the films. Weinstein countered that workplace safety rules were not constructed with choice in mind. “We don’t give construction workers an option to wear a hardhat,” he said. Despite the confidence that industry professionals put into testing, lapses have occurred from time to time. A male performer tested positive for HIV in 2004 and infected three actresses. Five years later, a single female performer tested positive, although it was determined she was not exposed on a film set. A single male performer who tested positive last October at the AIM clinic set off a chain of events, including a lawsuit and new owners, which led to the closure on May 2. As AIM struggled, the Free Speech Coalition came up with contingency plans to continue the services the clinic offered. Meetings in late April took input from performers, producers and agents. Ziegelmeyer says she hopes the turnout for this month’s meeting is better than the gatherings in April. It’s important for industry professionals to know about the coalition’s plans for the new health program, she said. “Anyone in the industry whose body is at risk should show up,” Ziegelmeyer said.