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AIDS Healthcare Foundation President
Michael Weinstein said Wednesday his group has collected 371,000 signatures —
far more than the 232,000 needed — in support of a ballot measure that
activists say would help protect porn actors from HIV and STDs. The initiative
would require adult film producers to obtain a health permit from Los Angeles
County, pay a fee, and mandate the use of condoms for vaginal and anal sex.
The L.A. County
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office “certified that the initiative
received the sufficient number of signatures to qualify for the ballot” in the
November 2012 election, Efrain Escobedo, manager of government and legislative
affairs, said Tuesday. However, the county Board of Supervisors still must vote
to approve the measure for the ballot.
The countywide ballot initiative
follows the city of Los Angeles passing a law in January directing porn
performers to wear condoms while filming in areas requiring a city film permit.
Condom requirements in the porn industry, centered in the San Fernando Valley,
have been a controversial issue for more than a decade.
AIDS activist say requiring condoms
is necessary under state and federal workplace safety laws that require
employers to protect employees from potentially infectious bodily fluids. But
state lawmakers and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors both have been
hesitant to do so. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, whose district includes the San
Fernando Valley, said the state, not the county, needs to act to protect adult
film performers.
Weinstein is confident the measure
will pass, citing results from a March poll showing 63 percent of more than
1,000 likely voters would vote in its favor. “The people are ahead of the
politicians on this issue,” he said. “There’s never been something on the
ballot as sexually explicit as this, so it’s going to be excellent education
for people.”
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.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
