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Condoms in porn advocates submit 371,615 signatures on L. A. County ballot measure

Safer sex advocates submitted 371,615 signatures supporting a County ballot measure drive that would, “…require producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health…and pay a permit fee…sufficient for necessary enforcement.”

Measure is modeled on County’s health permit process for tattoo and massage parlors and bathhouses; AHF and the initiative’s five named proponents are part of FAIR (For Adult Industry Responsibility), a corresponding campaign to shepherd signature gathering and the entire County ballot initiative process

As part of its ongoing campaign to require the use of condoms in porn films shot and produced in California in an effort to reduce the spread of STDs including HIV, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and members of FAIR (‘For Adult Industry Responsibility’), a group that has been shepherding signature gathering and support for a Los Angeles County ballot initiative process, hosted a press conference last Friday, May 25th at Los Angeles City Hall to announce the collection and filing of 371,615 signatures of Los Angeles County residents in support of a County of Los Angeles ballot initiative that allows Los Angeles voters to directly weigh in on a measure that would, “…require producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (“the Department”) and pay a permit fee set by the Department in an amount sufficient for necessary enforcement.”

Members of AHF and FAIR launched the County ballot measure drive in early January of this year on the heels of successfully qualifying a similar City of Los Angeles ballot initiative tying distribution of adult film permits to condom use. The groups have until June 5th to gather the signatures needed for the County measure. 232,153 valid signatures of Los Angeles County residents are required to qualify the measure and make the Nov 2012 ballot (a number based on a percentage of total votes cast in the last County-wide election); 255,368 to qualify by the random sample (30 day check). In a precautionary measure, AHF and FAIR have collected and submitted well over that number as a cushion: 371,615 signatures total. After validation of the signatures by County officials, the measure will go before Los Angeles County voters on the November 2012 ballot—the presidential election ballot.

“In January, advocates from AHF and FAIR launched the petition drive for this measure which will require all adult film producers operating in Los Angeles County to obtain a public health permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Today—just under five months later—we are very pleased to announce that 371,615 Los Angeles County voters have spoken up loudly and clearly on this: we collected and submitted that number of signatures in support of this measure,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation and one of the five named proponents of the ballot initiative. “This ordinance is modeled after the County’s similar health permitting process for tattoo and massage parlors and bathhouses. We are grateful that officials from the City of Los Angeles already acted earlier this year to adopt a similar citywide measure, and now we look forward to taking this measure directly to voters throughout the County of Los Angeles in November.”

This ordinance will be known as the ‘County of Los Angeles Safer Sex In The Adult Film Industry Act.’ Advocates need to collect over 200,000 signatures of voters by June 5, 2012, and if successful, would place the measure on the November 2012 election—the same ballot as the presidential election.

“This is not just about one industry, but about our entire community, as the spread of disease among adult film performers endangers themselves as well as their sexual partners in and outside the industry,” added AHF’s Weinstein. “This is why we are bringing the question directly to voters here in Los Angeles.”