LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Former Porn Star Shelley Lubben and the Pink Cross Foundation have been testifying before the State of California for years asking the state and the county of Los Angeles to start taking the necessary steps to enforce current health and safety laws within the adult film industry.
“And the state just looked the other way allowing performers to work without the use of condoms even though that is against the law.”
Today, Lubben applauds the steps that government officials have taken noting it is a “huge first step.”
The Los Angeles Public Health Department last week denied a license to a sexual health clinic in the San Fernando Valley which was run by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM). The self-regulated clinic is used by porn producers to test actors for sexually transmitted diseases before filming. The clinic, according to Lubben, is run by a board of porn producers and a fraudulent doctor who was a former porn star.
“Sharon Mitchell who calls herself “Doctor” does NOT have a medical degree but walks around in a white lab coat offering a false sense of security to young and naive porn stars,” said Lubben.
The move to close the clinic takes place just a little over a month after a performer tested positive for HIV at AIM and is now criticizing the care he received at the clinic while the industry continues to panic over the AIDS scare.
“We’ve been insisting that government officials enforce the laws just as they do with every other industry in California,” said Shelley Lubben, a former porn star and the founder of the Pink Cross Foundation.
“It’s unbelievable what they have allowed the porn industry to get away with.”
Lubben said porn producers had their own independent testing system in place with no regulation. “And the state just looked the other way allowing performers to work without the use of condoms even though that is against the law.”
But, Lubben notes that closing the clinic is only the first step and it’s imperative that the state continue down the path it is now heading. “These performers are being forced into high risk sex acts and sexually transmitted diseases and laws are not being enforced,” said Lubben whose recent book – The Truth Behind the Fantasy of Porn provides a detailed account about what really happens on a porn set with details about how performers are treated by the industry.
