The AIDS Healthcare Foundation on Monday filed more than a half million signatures needed for a ballot measure on mandatory condom usage in adult films throughout California.
The Hollywood advocacy group has 557,136 signatures of registered voters on its petitions as of the Monday filing deadline, a buffer of just less than 200,000 of the 366,880 needed to be eligible to appear on the November 2016 ballot.
AHF wants to extend L.A. County regulations passed in November 2012 and make them law throughout the entire state. The county initiative, Measure B, required adult film performers to use condoms as a means to stop the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
AHF President Michael Weinstein said that between passage of Measure B and initial polling showing support for a statewide mandatory condom law, voter sentiment favors safer sex in adult films.
“Unlike most politicians, voters are not squeamish about this issue, seeing it as a means to protect the health and safety of performers working in the industry,” Weinstein said in a prepared statement.
The adult industry has objected to a statewide mandatory condom policy just as it did against Measure B.
The Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park trade group for the adult industry, has contended its protocols for testing performers for sexually transmitted diseases are adequate. The group also objects to the statewide initiative’s allowing for any state resident to file a lawsuit if there are regulatory violations.
“In an effort to patrol community morals, Mr. Weinstein’s initiative turns the state courts into a legalized method of stalking, harassment and exploitation of adult film stars,” the coalition said in a statement released Monday.
A lawsuit filed by Vivid Entertainment, one of the largest producers of adult films in the San Fernando Valley, and two performers challenged Measure B’s constitutionality.
In August 2013, a U.S. District Court judge in California struck down portions of the law, including a $2,000 to $2,500 permit fee, but upheld the constitutionality of requiring condoms in adult films and any fee that was “revenue neutral” to cover enforcement costs. The Ninth Circuit Appellate Court agreed with that decision in a ruling made in December.
