-In the wake of yesterday’s news that an adult industry performer has tested positive for HIV, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today called for the suspension of all porn production.
Since the news, a voluntary industry quarantine has been in effect and two adult film companies have voluntarily stopped production. According to AHF— the organization that has been leading the charge to improve industry safety by requiring condom-use on all adult film sets—these efforts by the industry are simply not enough to address the serious situation of an outbreak of HIV among performers.
AHF is calling for Film LA to stop issuing permits for adult film production immediately.
“All porn production should be suspended until, at a minimum, it is known who has been exposed and until that information has been disclosed to public health authorities”
“All porn production should be suspended until, at a minimum, it is known who has been exposed and until that information has been disclosed to public health authorities,” said Michael Weinstein [pictured], President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Now is not the time to continue the porn industry’s seriously flawed system of self-regulation—a system which has been demonstrated time and time again to be inadequate to protect performers from sexually-transmitted diseases. The industry has said that facts about who is infected will likely not be known until the end of the week. Meanwhile, filming continues and performers could be getting exposed and infected.”
According to an article in today’s Los Angeles Times, Porn Film Performer Tests Positive for HIV (Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Rong-Gong Lin II): “An adult film performer in San Fernando Valley’s lucrative porn industry has tested HIV-positive, prompting at least two well-known adult movie production companies to suspend filming as a precaution.
The HIV infection of an active porn performer is the first known local case in more than a year and immediately strengthened calls by AIDS activists for the state to mandate condom use on porn sets and to increase regulation. The case was confirmed to The Times on Tuesday by officials at the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, known as AIM, a Sherman Oaks clinic that primarily serves porn industry workers.”