HIV-Positive Porn Actor Wants Mandatory Condom Usage

The porn actor who tested HIV positive in October has gone public — and he has some harsh words for the industry health protections for performers. He also says condoms should be required in all porn.

Derrick Burts, who performed under the names Cameron Reid and Derrick Chambers, is a baby-faced 24. The Los Angeles Times paraphrases him saying “he wishes he had known more about the risks of contracting sexually transmitted diseases in the industry.” If that sounds naive, well, the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM) has always insisted that its system of mandatory testing, a producer-accessed database, and no condoms keeps performers safe.

Burts thinks that he contracted HIV during oral sex in gay porn shot in Florida, but isn’t sure. Condoms had been used for penetration in that instance, as it often is in gay porn, but not during oral sex. AIM told him that they’d traced his infection to a “known positive” but wouldn’t tell him who it was, citing patient confidentiality.

If that’s what AIM told Burts, they told the public something very different: they said in a statement that he’d contracted HIV through personal activity:

“That’s completely false,” Burts said Tuesday. “There is no possible way. The only person I had sex with in my personal life was my girlfriend.”in the months before he tested positive for HIV, he had also contracted chlamydia, gonorrhea and herpes.

That’s perhaps the most damning charge — AIM deliberately misleading the public to try to tamp down fears about infection in the industry. But that’s not all: Burts also felt abandoned by the clinic, which he said didn’t follow up for his care. Which is why he ended up going straight to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, nemesis of AIM and a fierce advocate for condoms-only porn. They’re holding a news conference today.

HIV Positive Porn Performer Speaks Out [LAT]
Earlier: More Porn Studios Halt Operations After Performer Tests HIV Positive
HIV Positive Porn Start Didn’t Infect Partners
HIV Positive Porn Star Was Gay-To-Straight