AHF has been gathering signatures to get the measure on a ballot, they have now reached the number of signatures needed and commissioned a poll. The public may not know enough about the adult film industry to make this decision but they certainly think they do. We as an industry might consider a little PR of our own, but we won’t.
At best the FSC will preach to the chior by sending out press release to AVN and Xbiz and that’ll be the extent of it.
Expect the measure to pass by a large margin.
The voter poll, conducted by the firm, Research Now, was conducted during the week of March 16-23, 2012, and surveyed 1,046 likely Los Angeles voters. The poll showed strong support for a proposed ballot measure requiring adult film performers to use condoms in films, including the facts that:
— 83% had heard about the measure,
— 63% would vote ‘yes’ to require condoms; and of that number, 77% of women would vote ‘yes,’
— Over 80% see condom issue as one of public health, worker safety or fairness.
The ballot measure, known as the County of Los Angeles Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, modeled on County’s health permit process for tattoo and massage parlors and bathhouses, would, “…require producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (“the Department”) and pay a permit fee set by the Department in an amount sufficient for necessary enforcement.”
“We are pleased to announce that we have reached two critical milestones in our efforts on condom use in adult films in Los Angeles County: first, we passed the number of signatures needed to qualify our County measure this past weekend, with over 235,000 signatures now collected; and second, a voter poll that we recently commissioned and conducted shows enthusiastic support for requiring condoms in porn,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation and one of the five named proponents of the ballot initiative.
“Today, 63% of likely voters support the condom measure–and of this group, 77% of women support it. In addition, voters overwhelmingly see this issue as a matter of public health, worker safety and fairness–over 80% collectively, and few Los Angeles voters seem concerned about the industry’s threat to leave California over the issue.”
From January 3, 2012, through April 1, backers have collected over 235,000 signatures–more than the 232,153 signatures needed (10% of votes cast for governor in the County of Los Angeles during the November 2010 election) by June 5, 2012 in order to qualify measure for November 2012 election. AHF and FAIR intend to collect 374,000 signatures as a cushion.
