warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

VIDEO: L.A. Porn Stars Speak Out Against Measure B

Rosa Trieu |
November 5, 2012 | 1:21 a.m. PST

Staff Photographer

A porn industry backer holds posters against Measure B in Canoga Park on November 3, 2012. (Rosa Trieu/Neon Tommy)
A porn industry backer holds posters against Measure B in Canoga Park on November 3, 2012. (Rosa Trieu/Neon Tommy)

For L.A. County voters who haven’t made a decision about how to vote on Measure B, which would require adult performers to wear a condom on film sets, there is still time to gain perspective.

On one hand, there is that alarming study the Los Angeles Times recently reported about L.A. porn stars having more STDs than legal Nevada prostitutes. The study found that of the 168 adult film performers in Los Angeles County, 28 percent, or 47 of them, tested positive for either gonorrhea or chlamydia or both diseases.

The report was published by the L.A. County Department of Health and Johns Hopkins University and released to reporters by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the primary backer of Measure B.

Despite research findings and the health industry’s concerns, though, the porn industry insists the measure would be an infringement on first amendment rights, a waste of county funds and a turnoff that adult entertainers say would drive them and the business they bring out of California.

L.A. Porn Tours, founded and owned by Benjamin Free, took 30 volunteer adult performers to speak their minds about Measure B. The guided tour kicked off with a press conference before it took patrons around porn studios from Canoga Park to Hollywood on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The following interviews were with adult entertainers and a talent agent in the industry at the press conference.

VIDEO: Trinity St. Clair says the porn industry is a family that looks out for itself and is already self-regulated.

 

VIDEO: Former producer, director and performer, as well as current owner of adult talent agency Ideal Image Models, Tee Reel, talks about how Measure B will do more harm than good.

 

VIDEO: Lucky Starr says voting no on Measure B would let not only performers, but keep thousands of other people’s jobs in the state of California.

 

SLIDESHOW: L.A. Porn Tours

If passed, Measure B would require adult film producers to obtain a public health permit and pay a fee for that permit in order to offset the cost of enforcement. Violation of the law would call for a fine and criminal misdemeanor charges. This would affect the multi-billion dollar industry in San Fernando Valley, the largest in the world. Read a more detailed summary of the measure here.

 

 

Reach Staff Photographer Rosa Trieu here. Follow her on Twitter.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness