Dennis RomeroThe battle over condoms in porn just got real.
Well, actually, it's been real for a while. But the group behind the effort to make condoms mandatory in adult video, the L.A.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, is claiming victory this week. A judge said the organization could defend L.A. county's condom rule:
The pro-prophylactic rule for most of L.A. county means that porn producers here who pull permits must ensure that condoms are used on-set.
Voters approved the law in Novemeber.
The industry has resisted it and Vivid Entertainment, adult video's largest production house, is challenging it in court, arguing that forcing content creators to put condoms in their fare is a violation of the right to free speech — that it constitutes prior restraint on filmmakers ability to show things as they wish.
Not a bad argument.
Credit: Adultcon scenery by Keith Plocek / LA Weekly.
And its one that AIDS Healthcare Foundation claims L.A. County government isn't prepared to defend.
And so it asked a U.S. District Court judge to let it in on the action. It is, after all, essentially AHF's law.
Yesterday the group announced that the court agreed to let it take a swing at this ball, granting the organization “leave to intervene.”
AHF claimed victory, with president Michael Weinstein saying:
We are pleased that the Court has ruled in our favor, recognizing that AHF has a significant interest in this case. Once again the porn industry has been on the losing end of this important public health issue. We hope the porn industry is getting the message: AHF is going to continue to fight for the safety of the workers in adult films in California and elsewhere.
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