Condom Law Cramping Porn Stars' Style and Possibly Their Organs

A new California law requiring that actors in the porn industry wear condoms is getting some people in the X-rated biz hot and bothered. Two actors and the porn producing giant Vivid Entertainment are suing LA County in the hopes of overturning “Measure B,” the law requiring stars to rubber up for safety.

The main problem, the plaintiffs contend, is that condom-adverse actors and producers are leaving LA, the porn Mecca where 90% of adult films are made. Paul Cambria, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said,

“I can tell you they are leaving L.A. County in droves… It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that employs thousands of people, and ever since this all started they have been leaving and filming in places other than L.A. County.”

Porn veteran and apparent linguistic purist Ron Jeremy lamented that if the industry leaves LA, “you’ll hear more accents in your porn.” As a New Yorker, with a mild New York accent whose parents say horrah (horror) and terrah (terror), I resent the insinuation, Mr. Jeremy!

Cambria is also claiming that the law, intended to serve public health interests, will backfire: “Measure B will have vast unintended consequences which may undermine industry efforts to protect the health of our actors and actresses.” Cambria’s most dramatic claim is that the condom-wearing requirement, which was passed in November by nearly 56% of Los Angeles County voters, violates freedom of speech.

“They’re telling the production house that in order to produce legally protected expression, you have to first get government approval and you have to agree to shoot it in a particular way, namely with condoms.”

But Tom Myers, general counsel for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which sponsored Measure B, said in a written statement, “Despite what the adult industry’s lawyers are claiming in this lawsuit, Measure B is not directed at speech and as such their First Amendment claims will likely ring hollow with the court.”

As for public health risks, a recent study by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health found that adult actors, 28% of whom tested positive for gonorrhea or chlamydia, suffer higher rates of STDs than Nevada prostitutes. Call me a prude, but given these high rates, in an ideal world, all counties, in all the states in all the countries in the world would pass a law like this. Unlikely, but a girl can fantasize.