AIDS Healthcare Foundation wants porn permits tied to condom use
For Adult Industry Responsibility
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.—The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced a petition drive today to get a city ordinance on the June ballot that would require porn actors to wear condoms.
“At present, animals working in film and TV productions in Los Angeles enjoy more safety and health protections than adult film performers do,” according to Michael Weinstein, president of AHF. “There are laws and state statutes to protect adult performers, but there is no real enforcement.”
Weinstein said no government agency has been willing to tie the production permits for X-rated videos to a requirement that condoms are used.
“This is why we have spearheaded this ballot initiative: so the people the voters in Los Angeles may decide on this important health and safety issue affecting adult film performers,” he said.
Adult-film production companies have been generally resistant to requiring condom use, saying they can lower the quality of the productions and detract from the fantasies the films depict. They also contend performers are regularly tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
To get the ordinance on the June 2012 ballot, AHF needs to gather signatures from 41,138 voters registered in the city over a 120-day period ending Dec. 23, according to the City Clerk’s Office.
Weinstein, who said the ordinance would call for the city-county film permitting office to collect a fee from producers to cover periodic on-set inspections, announced the petition drive alongside two actors who say they contracted the HIV virus while performing without a condom. The campaign will be known as For Adult Industry Responsibility, or FAIR.
AHF is a nonprofit that provides services to people with HIV/AIDS in the United States and around the world.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson received the inaugural World AIDS Day Magic Award from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation Sunday at Staples Center, honoring his work raising awareness about HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment.
Johnson, who announced in 1991 that he tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, is the founder and chairman of the nonprofit Magic Johnson Foundation, whose mission includes making donations to community-based organizations that focus on HIV/AIDS education and prevention.
The Magic Johnson Foundation (MJF) recently announced the launch of Point Forward Day, a national day of awareness and action to celebrate its 20 years of impact.
The Foundation’s 20th anniversary campaign (MJF:20) will kick off with a press conference featuring Earvin “Magic” Johnson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Nov 7, exactly 20 years to the date that one of the world’s greatest basketball players announced his HIV status and subsequent retirement from the NBA.
Morehouse graduates Jason Panda and Ashanti Johnson have recently made headlines by taking a new and innovative approach to help decrease the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the community. They are the creators of b condoms, a plush prophylactic that focuses on changing sexual health practices in four main target audiences: African-Americans, Latinos, people 50 and older, and gay and bisexual males.
Their goal is to make condoms cool, which should induce more people to use them and, in turn, reduce transmission of HIV/AIDS.
The S.T.A.R. Foundation (Success Thrives Around Respect) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a sense of self-respect within girls and young adults through mentoring, educating and promoting the importance of living a healthy lifestyle, which incorporates HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) prevention.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Officials and activists are encouraging the public to be tested for the virus that causes AIDS, increase their awareness of the disease and contact the White House and Congress in connection with today's World AIDS Day.
The Los Angeles city government will hold its commemoration of World AIDS Day at the JW Marriott at LA Live, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa among the scheduled speakers.
