A Los Angeles County ordinance requiring pornographic actors to wear condoms during sex scenes has been upheld by the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals after being challenged by porn makers who argued the law violated their right to free speech.
Lawyers for the porn industry alleged the ordinance – passed by L.A. County voters in 2012 – interfered with speech rights by ruining the “fantasy element” of pornography. They argued that viewers who see condoms in pornographic scenes are reminded of the real-world consequences of sex, namely pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Although the ordinance was passed amidst a spate of industry-wide shut-downs over positive HIV tests and a number of high profile outbreaks of other STDs, the attorneys insisted the industry’s own safety standards – mandatory testing every 2 to 4 weeks – are good enough. But the 9th Circuit pointed out that according to the Los Angeles County Department of Health, the rate of sexually transmitted infection for porn actors is 20 percent – nearly ten times the rate of the general public.
Since its enactment in 2012, the ordinance has decimated the porn industry in Los Angeles County. What used to be the pornography capital of the English-speaking world has seen applications for porn filming permits drop from 485 in 2012 to just 40 in 2014. Industry insiders have said that many productions are simply operating without permits or filming in neighboring counties in order to avoid complying with the law.
As a result, the outbreaks have continued – the industry ground to a halt three times in 2013 and twice so far this year due to concerns over actors’ exposure to HIV. Public health advocates say the industry’s testing requirements aren’t enough to protect actors from contracting diseases, because viruses need time to build up in the body before they can be detected. In the meantime, actors may be contagious and still test negative, giving their costars a false sense of security while putting them at risk of catching a potentially deadly disease.
