Porn law revives debate over legality of US porn industry

The call for the "Condoms in Porn" legislation in California has revived the debate on whether the porn industry in the US is legal and whether the actors should have labour protection.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) led a group of people to gather in front of Larry Flynt's Hustler store Monday in West Hollywood to renew a call for a California "Condoms in Porn" law. The AHF is seeking the introduction of legislation that would mandate the use of condoms for adult video performers as a worker safety provision of California's Labour Code.

Organisers said the Condoms in Porn law is equal to how the Labour Code currently requires the use of hard hats and other garments and barriers as safety precautions on certain California work sites and locations.

The call was renewed after the Los Angeles Times reported that an actress in the porn industry in Los Angeles has been tested HIV positive.

Health officials in Los Angeles said that 22 actors in adult sex movies had contracted HIV since 2004, when a previous outbreak led to efforts to protect pornography industry employees.

"We have an industry that is exposing workers to life-threatening diseases as part of their employment," said Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for Los Angeles County. "That is outrageous and anachronistic. These infections are virtually entirely preventable."

But at issue now is whether porn film and video making is a legal industry in the US, as the country's labour protection law only protects legal workers.

In the US, prostitution is illegal in most states except Nevada. In California, both prostitution and solicitation for prostitution are prohibited. But strangely, it seems making money by producing and selling porn movies is a legitimate business there.

Last updated on Jun 16^th, 2009 at 10:37 am IST--Xinhua