July 6, 2012 | Sex & Society

L.A. County voters will have say re condoms on porn sets

A ballot measure asking Los Angeles County voters if condoms should be mandatory for porn models on the set has received enough signatures to qualify for the November election.

The initiative is largely the work of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and it's leader Michael Weinstein. If approved it would mean that adult film producers would have to obtain a permit from the county Department of Public Health and models would be required to use condoms when fucking anally or vaginally. County officials could suspend or revoke the permit for violations, and would be empowered to levy fines and misdemeanor criminal charges.

In January, the City of Los Angeles, at the behest of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, passed a by-law ordering porn performers to use condoms while acting in films made under city permits. The effect of the regulation has been negligible so far, as many porn shoots don't request city permits and there has been no enforcement.  If the city or county were to crack down, studios would simply move to another jurisdiction. 

While the AIDS Healthcare Foundation initiative will be seen as admirable by some, it does seem like something that should have been implemented 25 years ago, when AIDS was killing a lot of people. Voluntary use of condoms by gay studios was universal for several years in the 90's, but started to fall apart, led by studios such as  Hot Desert Knights and Treasure Island, that cast models who were already poz; and later by more and more studios as screening tests and HIV  treatments have improved. The straight side of the industry has never used condoms - and it never will.