LOS ANGELES–Advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a protest and media availability Tuesday, January 10th from 6pm to 8pm at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica in conjunction with the XBIZ Awards, a porn industry gala at which adult film mogul Larry Flynt will be given XBIZ’s first ever ‘Icon’ Award.
The safer sex advocates will bestow their own Larry ‘SkinFlynt’ Award to Flynt for his complete disregard for his adult film performers’ safety in his pursuit of profits and his repeated and public defiance about following California worker health and safety laws.
AHF’s move to spearhead this ballot initiative was prompted by two outbreaks of HIV in the industry and an ongoing epidemic of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in California’s adult film industry. As part of its ongoing campaign to require the use of condoms in adult films, AHF has undertaken high profile advocacy efforts directly targeting the industry, including key players like Hustler’s founder Larry Flynt and Vivid Entertainment’s Steve Hirsch; it has also publicly pressed Los Angeles County political and health officials to comply with the law as far as legal reporting of HIV and STD cases–including those found among performers in the industry–and to require the use of condoms on film sets in Los Angeles.
Multiple organizations committed to protecting the public health have called for mandatory use of condoms in the production of adult films, including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the California Conference of Local AIDS Directors, the California STD Controllers Association, the National Coalition of STD Directors, the National Association of City and County Health Officials, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the California Medical Association.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US’ largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 125,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and the Asia Pacific Region. www.aidshealth.org