Los Angeles City Council Votes to Seek State Law to Mandate Condom Use in Films

Recently, the Los Angeles City Council voted 10-0 in favor of requesting state legislation that would allow the city to require condom use on adult-film sets as a condition of issuing a film permit.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been calling for the city to take action. “The industry has refused to implement common-sense protection,” said Brian Chase, AHF’s assistant general counsel. “If it was required in the permits issued by the city, it would go a long way in preventing [STDs].”

Mandatory condom use has been debated in the adult-film business for some time, said Tom Hymes, a senior editor at the industry’s AVN Media Network. “Clearly, the industry is not for this move and the result of it would be that more productions would go underground to the extent they are able to do that,” he said. “It is my understanding that the inspectors could come in only if there is a complaint,” he added.

Council member Paul Koretz noted that he introduced a similar measure when he served in the state Assembly. Council member Richard Alarcon, chair of the Jobs and Business Development Committee, said he wants to develop an overall policy on condom use in adult films.

But Diane Duke, executive director of the industry’s Free Speech Coalition, said the issue of mandatory condom use in porn “has come before the state Legislature a number of times and has failed.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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