Adult Entertainment Industry Objects to Condom Law

ENTERTAINMENT – Mark Madler The Valley-based adult entertainment industry may have decamped to Las Vegas for its annual convention and trade show last week but it couldn’t escape Los Angeles completely. One day before the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo began at the Hard Rock Hotel on Jan. 18, the Los Angeles City Council voted to require condoms on adult film shoots that receive a city permit. The ordinance becomes city law in three months. Supporters of the ordinance, primarily the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, praised the move as one that will improve the safety of adult performers from sexually transmitted diseases. Those in the industry, however, take a different view and decried the intrusion of government over-regulation into how they make their movies. Besides, no one who makes the movies or performs in them was even consulted on the wording of the ordinance, industry professionals said. The result has been to rally a notoriously disorganized industry around a common cause. “When you put pressure and endanger the industry’s ability to communicate, the industry unites,” said Jeff Douglas, an attorney with clients in the adult industry. “If you don’t put a gun to their head, everyone wants to go on their merry way making dirty movies.” The L.A. city ordinance is just one step — albeit a big one — in the AHF campaign to address performer safety. The organization is currently collecting signatures on petitions to get a ballot initiative for L.A. County to adopt a mandatory condom policy. The enforcement of the city ordinance remains to be settled. A working group that will include representatives from the city’s Personnel Department, the City Attorney, the Police Department, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, and other relevant stakeholders will meet in coming months to hammer out the details. The AHF has been approached about the working group but had not yet been asked to participate, said its President Michael Weinstein. As for representation from those most affected, the industry will “kick down doors” to be included, Douglas said. As with anything involving the adult industry, a lot of hyperbole and exaggeration gets tossed around by both sides in this discussion. Take for instance how Douglas believes there is more than meets the eye about the AHF. Ask the foundation if it will be one of the bidders, Douglas suggested. Likely there will be “tap dancing” before getting an answer, he said. Weinstein’s response? “Absolutely not,” he said. “It would be a conflict of interest.” And who should be doing the monitoring? It would be Weinstein’s preference to see a group connected with the medical field rather than the police department who checks up on the film shoots to see if the performers are in compliance. That is, if they can be found. Filmmakers will stop getting permits, go to soundstages that don’t require permits, or shoot someplace else, Douglas said, adding that not pulling a permit means less money coming to the city. The industry could also mount a legal challenge against the ordinance based on First Amendment violations. “Dozens of lawyers around the country, they can draft such a complaint with virtual ease,” Douglas said. That move, however, would be premature in the absence of enforcement, said Douglas, who serves as chairman of the board of the Free Speech Coalition, the Canoga Park-based trade group for adult businesses. Workplace safety has become a major issue in the adult industry in recent years following incidents of performers testing positive for HIV — once in 2009 and again in 2010. The adult industry has been self-policing by regularly testing performers. But more than testing is required to keep the performers disease free, said Derrick Burts, a former performer who participated in a conference call with reporters on Jan. 10 after the council’s first vote on the ordinance. During his brief time in adult films, Burts said he came down with three sexually transmitted diseases and tested positive for HIV. “Testing is not enough as the producers like to say,” Burts said. “It comes down to barrier protection.” Last summer, the Free Speech Coalition put in place a series of protocols for regular testing of performers. Coalition Executive Director Diane Duke is confident the self-policing measures are keeping adult performers safe and the testing standards are higher than what AHF requires. “The performers are happy with the protocols in place,” Duke said. Adult Industry Awards Valley companies and business people came away as winners from the XBiz Awards on Jan. 10. Elegant Angel in Canoga Park won the Studio of the Year award; and Digital Playground in Van Nuys won for Best Special Effects and Best Editing In the special honorees category, Ron Braverman, president of North Hollywood manufacturer Doc Johnson received the Industry Pioneer Award – Novelty. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected]