The state of California has voted to reject the “California Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act,” also known as Proposition 60, a state bill that would have mandated the use of condoms in adult films, among other controversial requirements.
The bill, introduced and funded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its president Michael Weinstein, was struck down 46 to 55 percent.
In addition to requiring porn producers to prove that condoms were used during scenes where “performers actually engage in vaginal or anal penetration by a penis,” the bill would have required that producers pay for testing, vaccinations, and medical exams of performers, and allowed the state, performers, or private residents to enforce the bill.
The bill drew stark criticism from many who work in the porn industry, saying it could have put performers in danger, both physically and financially, with private citizens able to sue sex workers and gain access to their private information, which could have been used to stalk and abuse them.
Today, porn sites and performers are tweeting their relief over the bill’s rejection.
It appears that we've successfully defeated #Prop60. Thanks to @RealJuliaAnn, @tashareign @thejessicadrake & ALL who fought the good fight.
— WICKED (@WickedPictures) November 9, 2016
Looks like #prop60 isn't going to pass! Any other news we missed about people getting fucked without a condom?
— Brazzers (@Brazzers) November 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/ChanelPreston/status/796395340031135744
In 2012, Los Angeles County passed Measure B, which already requires the use of condoms in porn produced in L.A. County. Mike Stabile, communications director for the Free Speech Coalition, one of the biggest opponents of Prop 60, previously told the Daily Dot that regular STI testing is an industry standard as well.
Stabile said performers and AIDS activists have been working with the state’s occupational safety and health organization, Cal/OSHA, to provide guidelines that would mostly align with those in Prop 60, but which would give “power to the performer.” “We want to give performers a toolbox,” he said, “and they can choose what makes sense for them and their bodies as long as it falls within those guidelines.”