CA: Condoms in Pornography on November Ballot

California voters will decide in November whether the state should require the use of condoms in pornography, as Los Angeles has since 2016.

The Aids Healthcare Foundation, led by Dr. Michael Weinstein, recently failed to convince the state legislature to adopt the requirement, and also failed last month to persuade California OSHA regulators to make new, explicit regulations to that effect. Now, the new rule will appear as a ballot measure.

The Sacramento Bee reports:

The Free Speech Coalition dismisses Weinstein’s effort as a cynical attempt to enrich himself by suing the industry for noncompliance. Weinstein’s critics depict a paternalist crusade to shame sex workers.

Some who have devoted their lives to combating HIV believe his mission will have more insidious consequences. By emphasizing condoms, they argue, Weinstein is discounting more effective forms of prevention. Weinstein’s opposition to a recently released preventive medicine called pre-exposure prophylaxis, hailed as a once-in-a-generation breakthrough, has angered many …

Weinstein called the idea that he’s out to make money “absurd,” saying he wants to aid a population that is otherwise ignored and to bring to account an industry that has “thumbed its nose at the regulations” on the books.

“They treat the performers as disposable,” Weinstein said. “Should we believe pornographers who are greedy and just looking to get an economic advantage?”

Measure B, which was passed by voters in Los Angeles County in 2012, has resulted in a dramatic drop in permits requested by adult film companies. Opponents of the condom requirement argue that Measure B has cost hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in industry losses, along with hundreds of jobs.

Supporters of the requirement are skeptical of those figures. Prof. Lynn Comella told the Bee host claims are just a “well-crafted political strategy.”