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Los Angeles is railing against a proposed legislation, banning barebacking in porn productions, according to Courthouse News Service. City officials claim voters lack the standing to adopt the Adult Film Workplace Condom Initiative, the initiative violates state law and would cost taxpayers millions.
Deputy City Attorney Kimberly Miera filed suit, seeking declaratory relief to determine the proposed initiative’s validity.
They’ve done more than talk—suing AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, Gerald Kenslea, Marijane Jackson, Arlette De La Cruz and Mark Roy McGrath. The foundation spearheaded the signature drive and plans to finance the initiative campaign.
Filmmakers, according to the Los Angeles Times, would be forced to require performers to use condoms. They would also incur fees for film set inspections of film sets, Weinstein said.
The city of Los Angeles wants California’s Superior Court to declare voters can’t ratify the measure. It also wants stripped of the responsibility to count and verify the petition’s nearly 71,000 signatures. Only 41,000 signatures were necessary to get the initiative on the ballot.
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Initiative supporters submitted the signatures in preparation for statewide election in June 2012. The city believes the proposal is illegal, since California labor law already requires employees use “barrier protection in the workplace when employees are exposed to blood borne pathogens.”
Officials said entertaining the initiative would undermine trust in the petition and voting processes, while wasting money.
“A post-election judicial determination that an initiative is illegal would also waste millions of dollars of taxpayer money incurred in the process of preparing such initiative for the ballot.”
With that said, Los Angeles officials also allege the proposed initiative is unconstitutional. The porn industry, which calls the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles home, is threatening to leave if the initiative becomes law. Producers claim monthly check-ups are performed.
The industry went silent in August, when a performer tested HIV-Positive, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation reports. Testing and monitoring efforts, Free Speech Coalition Chairman Jeffrey Douglas said, have been “extraordinarily successful.” The coalition is the porn industry’s lobbyist.
Coalition Executive Director Diane Duke said the initiative isn’t the answer—and would fall on deaf ears. Duke also claimed AHF’s move amounted to nothing more than “political grandstanding.”
“History has shown us that regulating sexual behavior between consenting adults does not work,” she said. “The best way to prevent the transmission of HIV and other STIs is by providing quality information and sexual health service.”
