Campaign for legislation to protect adult film industry performers

AIDS Healthcare FoundationDec 4 2009

AIDS Healthcare Foundation: 

On Friday, a broad coalition of health groups will unveil a campaign to press for California legislation to protect adult film industry performers. The legislative push will be formally announced in conjunction with a strategy symposium for the effort being held Friday, December 4^th at UCLA (Public Affairs Building, North Campus). The Adult Film Performer Safety Strategy Symposium is being hosted by the Reproductive Health Interest Group (RHIG) of UCLA’s School of Public Health. Participants in the symposium include representatives from non-profit organizations, state agencies, universities and adult film performers from California who share a vision of promoting healthy bodies and healthy environments. The symposium will include an opening plenary session followed by breakout sessions to brainstorm solutions in four distinct areas: 1) Developing a Media Plan; 2) Gaining Legislative Support; 3) Mobilizing Supporters; and 4) Empowering Performers to Advocacy. The groups will then share their ideas in a final plenary session at the end of the symposium in the late afternoon.

Agencies and individuals participating in the half day symposium include representatives from (partial list)

• Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
• Los Angeles County Commission on HIV
• AIDS Healthcare Foundation
• AIDS Project Los Angeles
• Health Officers Association of California
• The Office of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, 3^rd District
• The Office of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, 2^nd District
• The Office of State Senator Gilbert Cedillo
• The City of Los Angeles’ AIDS Coordinator’s Office
• Darren James, HIV-positive individual and former adult industry performer
• Rand Martin, Lobbyist, Rose & Kindel (Sacramento)

“Occupational exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, continues to be a very serious risk for workers employed in California’s adult film industry,” said Cristina Hart-Rodriguez, Chair, Adult Film Industry Subcommittee, Reproductive Health Interest Group, UCLA School of Public Health. “This is not just a problem confined to performers within the AFI, but can also affect the performers’ partners outside the industry and the broader community. Statewide momentum is building for solutions to improve and protect the health and safety of these workers. Through our Adult Film Performer Strategy Symposium on Friday, we hope to develop concrete goals and solutions to bring to the industry and to Sacramento in order to secure legislative and regulatory protections for all those working in the adult film industry.”

Since 2004, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has received reports of more that 2,400 cases of chlamydia and more than 1,400 cases of gonorrhea. Cases of other STDs, including HIV, have also been reported among AFI workers over the past decade, with female performers at particular risk for negative health consequences. At the same time, the AFI continues to resist basic occupational health and safety standards that are mandatory for workers in every other legal industry in this state.

Momentum has also been building to extend Cal/OSHA health and safety standards to the AFI through state legislation. At the Adult Film Performer Safety Symposium, participants (who must be pre-registered to attend) will discuss necessary elements of legislation which would include the following:

1. Reducing occupational exposure to infectious diseases in the production of adult films by requiring mandatory use of condoms and other prevention methods, employer-paid medical monitoring and worker education;
2. Improving the ability of local health departments and Cal/OSHA to investigate and control occupational exposures to infectious diseases and enforce workplace regulations in a timely manner; and
3. Enabling existing Cal/OSHA and other occupational standards to be vigorously enforced to reduce occupational exposure to infectious diseases within the adult film industry.

Current supporters of as-yet-to-be-drafted California legislation to protect adult industry performers include the County of Los Angeles, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the following other organizations:

• California Medical Association
• Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
• California Academy of Preventive Medicine
• California Family Health Council
• Beyond AIDS
• UCLA Reproductive Health Interest Group

The symposium takes place December 4^th on the UCLA campus from 1 pm to 6 pm. The symposium will be preceded by a press conference on the steps of the Public Affairs Building, UCLA, North Campus at 12:00pm (noon).