Prop. 60 will protect adult film performers
Proposition 60 is not about requiring condom use in adult films. Condom use is the law in California, and it is widely recognized as the gold standard for protecting against sexually transmitted diseases. The proposition actually seeks to make it easier for state officials to enforce existing workplace health and safety rules.
The Mercury News editorial (Aug. 18) opposing Proposition 60 badly missed the point.
Unfortunately, the adult film industry’s young performers are now routinely bullied not to use condoms by their producer bosses.
The results of condomless sex in the workplace are serious. The rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among adult film performers are very high. Some STDs are incurable, some cause cancer. Multiple studies have found at least one in four adult film performers have an STD.
“I never saw so much chlamydia and gonorrhea in a population,” the former head of Los Angeles County’s STD prevention program told the Los Angeles Times in March 2016.
But STD exposure at work does not need to happen. Since 1992 California law has required condom use in adult films. Major public health agencies such the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say condom use is critical to protect workers against STDs. Yet Mercury News editorial writers quote state Sen. Mark Leno’s claim that condoms are not needed.
In recent years, Cal/OSHA, the state’s workplace safety watchdog, has energetically pursued film companies that disobey the condom rule. The agency has filed nearly two dozen legal cases against producers. But Cal/OSHA’s enforcement efforts have often been stymied by legal loopholes and the industry’s clever ruses.
Prop. 60 will close those loopholes.
Prop. 60 will give Cal/OSHA an extra six months to file charges against producers who violate the existing condom rule. Prop. 60 will allow Cal/OSHA to fine not only producers but film distributors and talent agents when condom use rules are violated. Prop. 60 would also give any California resident the right to sue if Cal/OSHA chooses not to do so itself.
The Mercury News says it won’t “shed any tears” if Prop. 60 drives the adult film industry from California. Prop. 60 will not cause an industry exodus. Condom use in workplace settings is a federal rule, enforceable in all states. Moreover, California and New Hampshire are the only states that legally allow adult film production. California is the industry’s best home.
The Mercury News incorrectly suggests Prop. 60 will enable authorities to prosecute performers for not wearing condoms. Two weeks ago a California judge prohibited the adult film industry from repeating that same “false and misleading” statement. Prop. 60 is clear: “Liability under this act shall not apply to adult film performers.”
Finally, the Mercury News endorses the undemocratic notion that California’s attorney general should have the power to veto Prop. 60 if it wins at the polls; the newspaper says the attorney general should have the unrestricted right to refuse to defend the measure if Prop. 60 opponents — after the election — challenge it in the courts. With no defense, Prop. 60 would lose by default and the voters’ will would be checkmated by one politician.
To prevent that outcome, Prop. 60 gives the measure’s official sponsor, the head of the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the right to defend Prop. 60 in the courts.
Prop. 60 supporters believe California voters are compassionate and fair-minded. They will understand Prop. 60 is needed because performers deserve the same workplace safety rights enjoyed by nurses, construction workers, farmhands, truck drivers and workers in dozens of other professions.