L.A. Seeks To Force Condoms on Porn Industry

Boogie nights are about to get rubbery. Last week, the Los Angeles City Council moved to force porn actors to use condoms, reports the New York Times. City legislators voted to draft the trailblazing ordinance after a health clinic that served the multibillion-dollar industry closed in December. "We can't keep our heads in the sand any longer," said a city councilman. "These people should be using condoms. Period." Until now, the San Fernando Valley's thriving smut factory has been allowed to operate without government safety standards. The nonprofit clinic that tested performers for HIV helped stave off regulation, and porn impresarios said the self-regulation system was working. But the L.A. Department of Public Health reports that sexually transmitted disease runs rampant in the adult entertainment community. AIDS activists say it's time for the government to regulate the industry. "Testing just acts as a fig leaf for producers, who suggest that it is a reasonable substitute for condoms, which it is not," said the president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Still, the city worries it doesn't have the money to enforce condom use, and producers, who say only unprotected sex sells, are dead set against it. "I tried many years ago to get everybody to go to condoms," said a talent agent for sex-film performers. "Quite a few companies did, but sales fell severely. The switch would be very difficult."

Read original story in The New York Times | Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011 [from Slate, 2/10/11]