In response to an article posted by Roxanne Palmer on the web site International Business Times, I’d like to offer further analysis regarding Measure B, an initiative due to appear on the ballots of Los Angeles County voters in November.

I have included the text of that article (in red) in this post.

The article states, “In August, major studios enacted an industry-wide shutdown after a crop of syphilis cases. The outbreak was traced back to a performer named “Mr. Marcus,” who admitted that he had falsified his testing results to he could keep working.”

-Reporting “a crop of syphilis” is inaccurate. It is known that the L.A. County Health will not release medical tests conducted during this latest incident. In fact, this fact has allowed them to make claims to bolster their campaign to violate the individual rights of the workers in the adult industry in Southern California without having to show proof to anyone. The sources involved with the actual testing have stated that the cases of positive syphilis tests was most likely two, at best.

** Post note- this case is not related to the multiple cases reportedly to have occurred in Budapest and Prague in the previous months.

“In Los Angeles County there were 6,447 cases of HIV reported to the California Department of Health between June 2008 and June 2011, but only two of those were adult performers, both of whom contracted the virus off-set, according to the industry group opposing Measure B, the No on Government Waste Committee.”

- Going even further back, since 1992, there have been 3 other cases in HIV infected performers that had acquired the infection from off  the set relations. So, since 1992, with a total of 5 cases of HIV in a total of over 800,000 scenes and 1,600.000 bodies minimum. (Figure on average over the last twenty years there were 8,000 features released a year, a minimum of 5 scenes per title and at least 2 performers in a scene over a 20 year period.) That is .00000625 percent infection rate in the adult  industry. 000003125 % if you figure in total bodies performing in scenes. What other group of people can claim that low of a rate?

The CDC estimates 50,000 people become infected each year in the U.S alone. So doing the math, 1 million people became HIV positive in the last 20 years in the U.S. In the adult industry during that time? Five. 

The AHF and the L.A. County officials would rather have the public believe that the adult industry has been disastrous at regulating the ‘workplace safety’ of it’s performers. My previous post shows that this is entirely untrue. Does anyone smell a lying, smelly bundle of bullshit here?

-”But “testing is not prevention,” says Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “You can get tested today, get infected tomorrow and infect somebody else after that, whether it’s HIV or any other STD.”

-That is common sense. The performers in the industry know this. If they didn’t care, there would be far higher number of cases of industry performers, established in the business already, leaving the industry after testing positive because of sloppy and irresponsible behavior. The facts are though, they take their livelihood seriously, more so than average people. The public would be very surprised how little sex actually takes place in the lives of the performers off camera. Most are in relationships or do not find the thought of dealing with civilians on a sexual level remotely appealing. The CDC also estimates 1 in 5 of those infected, don’t even know it. Nearly 20%! Guess what? 100 % of the adult industry knows their status on HIV and other STD’s. Some even test every two weeks, if not monthly!

-”The group is poised to roll out a major ad campaign in favor of the measure next week. One television spot features Darren James and Derrick Burts, two former porn performers who contracted HIV while working in the industry. James was likely infected in 2004 while filming in Rio de Janeiro. Burts told the Independent in 2010 that his HIV infection was traced back to a gay shoot in Florida in 2010, though an adult industry clinic later said it came from his private sex life, he claims. ”My employers are responsible for providing a safe work environment,” Burts says in the ad. “They obviously didn’t.”

-In the end Mr Burts, YOU, ME, WE , are responsible for our actions; behavior on set and off. That is the definition of a safe work environment.

-”Fattorosi also characterizes Measure B as a massive overreach. They say the law is rooted in the past, while the present face of pornography is less about big film shoots, and increasingly similar to the independent film industry: guerrilla, permit-less shoots, or semi-amateur efforts using personal webcams.

Under existing Los Angeles County laws, a monogamous married couple that wanted to film themselves having sex is technically required to get a permit, Fattorosi says. And if Measure B passes, they’ll also be required to use condoms.

“How can you have a law that reaches so far into the marital bedroom?” he said.

-Voters are being bamboozled. (Yes, I just used the word bamboozled!) This is not just about the industry, it’s about gov’t overreach into our personal, private lives as citizens. If the voters knew how gray the area is for defining what behavior and who could be fined, arrested, or ostracized in the media, would they agree with it?  ( I wonder if the mayor of a certain California city, while having an affair while married, [...that breaks a county law,yes?]..used condoms with his mistress?)

-”It’s gonna be pretty chilly for them to take off their clothes in the winter in New Hampshire,” Weinstein said. “But we will follow them wherever they will go.”

- So it appears that Mr. Weinstein is prepared to basically stalk, harass, persecute, lie and bully people who have the legal right to work- no matter what state they work in legally. Influencing another state’s political and legal work rights, I believe shows an insidious and repulsive desire to impose his ill-informed will, much like a failed artist did in Germany in 1933. Pretty scary, don’t you think?

In an age where there are more deaths attributed to boxing than any other sport, there is still no requirement for head protection in professional boxing. With more football players suffering brain injuries from concussions ( and links to suicides from altered brain conditions) than ever before, full speed tackling is still allowed and encouraged. Deaths from professional racing, hydra boat racing, air shows, concerts occur all the time. But no one would argue that these entertainment industries do not do their utmost to provide the safest conditions possible for the participants. While there is an element of danger in all these sports, Dan White says it best when he says, “At the end of the day, it’s a contact sport and anything can happen.” (Link)

Of course, he’s referring to the sport of MMA. But we in the industry are professionals in this arena. It is a contact sport, so to speak. We take this seriously. Do not believe the lies perpetrated by those who live with so much fear, that they have to get other people to accomplish their agenda.

It is my opinion that the industry should seek an immediate federal court injunction on this measure based on false and libelous claims from AHF and L.A County Board of Health, unfair work discrimination, unfair business practice statutes, financial duress of a legal industry that provides jobs and tax revenue to the state and potential first amendment and civil liberty violations.

Vote NO on Measure B!

(text copied from International Business Times is copyrighted.)

**Post note- Many find it interesting that Mr. Weinstein, who is reportedly an openly gay man, has not mentioned the M2M infection rate in the U.S. as part of his argument for MANDATORY condoms in adult. While it known that the gay genre of films are less stringent than the straight genre and that M2M activity accounts for 60% of transmission, he has focused his efforts on the side of the adult business that undoubtedly has the safest work environment, according to CDC numbers (found at the link at the beginning of this post), IN THE WORLD.