L.A. City Attorney's Office Files Suit Against Condoms in Porn Initiative
The L.A. City Attorney's office apparently does not want voters determining the fate of safe sex in the local porn industry. City attorneys filed suit against AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in L.A. County Superior Court on Thursday.
Spearheading the efforts for the June 2012 ballot initiative, dubbed City of Los Angeles Safer Sex In The Adult Film Industry Act, AHF has gathered over 71,000 signatures in support of the measure, exceeding the 41,138 signatures needed by December 23 to qualify the initiative for the ballot. Michael Weinstein, AHF president, told Huffington Post, "I think it's extraordinary to attempt to thwart the will of 71,000 voters who under the laws of the city of Los Angeles wish to see this measure put before the voters."
AVN reports that "many" of the signatures obtained by AHF were done so "by misleading the public as to the initiative's effects."
City attorneys say the measure is unnecessary and will waste taxpayer money. State laws already exist mandating workplace safety, as stated in the lawsuit, but Ged Kenslea, a spokesman for AHF, says these laws are not enforced.
The measure would connect the issuance of adult film permits by the City of L.A. to condom use in adult films shot and produced in L.A. It would also require fee collection from adult film permit recipients to allow periodic inspections of sets to monitor compliance.
The lawsuit asks that the validity of the initiative be determined before the June 5 election "because, were the initiative to pass, and a court were to rule then that the initiative violated state law, such a result would 'undermine public trust in the petition process,' 'undermine the public trust in the government institutions and election officials who play a role in the qualification of measures for the ballot' and 'undermine[] the credibility of the elections process in general, which is amongst our most treasured and essential democratic institutions,'" reports AVN.
Lauding the city's decision to file suit, The Free Speech Coalition - a trade association for the porn industry - has been battling AHF since the measure's launch in August 2011, claiming that the measure "squanders its donor resources," says Huffington Post.
