Gay Republicans Latest to Join 44 Chambers of Commerce and Business Groups Opposed to Measure B
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The effort to defeat Measure B, the so-called “Safer Sex” initiative on the Nov. 6th ballot, gain another important endorsement today when the Log Cabin Republicans of Los Angeles announced its opposition to Measure B, the so-called “Safer Sex” initiative on the Nov. 6th ballot, said the No on Government Waste Committee.
“The broad range of support for defeating Measure B covers business groups, political parties, women’s groups, healthcare advocates, the entertainment industry and now the gay and lesbian community,” said James Lee, communications director for the No on Government Waste Committee. “The outpouring of support across the county in defeating Measure B has been a stunning repudiation of Measure B and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s misguided attempts to create a new government bureaucracy of condom inspectors.”
Log Cabin Republicans is the only Republican organization dedicated to representing the interests of gay and lesbian Americans and their allies. The 30-year old organization has state and local chapters nationwide, a full-time office in Washington, DC, a federal political action committee and state political action committees.
“While Log Cabin supports the public health objectives behind Measure B, we do not believe that an onerous government mandate is the best way to accomplish those goals,” said Brad Torgan, Log Cabin Los Angeles Chapter president. “Instead, Measure B is more likely to drive production out of Los Angeles County, costing us jobs when we can least afford to lose them.”
“To me and others, Measure B is a simple constitutional question. If you believe that speech is protected under the First Amendment, then government has little power to mandate speech,” added Scott Schmidt, Log Cabin Los Angeles Chapter immediate past-president. “If it is protected under the First Amendment, then the County cannot step in and say what can or cannot be said or done, but for the rare circumstances of ‘screaming fire in a crowded theater.’ Measure B does not meet that Constitutional test.”
Along with the recent endorsements against Measure B by the Los Angeles County Federation of Republican Women, Los Angeles County Republican and Libertarian Parties, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, six other local newspapers, 43 other local area chambers of commerce and the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, the largest business group in the San Fernando Valley, those standing in opposition to Measure B dwarfs the limited support proponents have been able to muster.
Log Cabin Republicans of Los Angeles will be funding an independent expenditure to reach out within the LGBT community to oppose Measure B and promote four out-and-proud candidates endorsed by the California Log Cabin Republicans PAC.
Currently Log Cabin Clubs are chartered in Los Angeles, Santa Clara and San Francisco Counties. Endorsements in Federal races are made by the National Log Cabin Club, while State Constitutional and Legislative endorsements are made by the State Chapter.
Measure B, funded and placed on the ballot by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, would require the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to license and permit adult movie productions in the county and require performers to wear condoms and create an unworkable system of on-set inspections and enforcement by county personnel. The county estimates initial start-up costs for the program to be in excess of $300,000, but acknowledges that regardless of the level of compliance by the adult film industry, there would be significant cost to the Department of Public Health.
According to the California Dept. of Public Health, from June 30, 2008 to June 30, 2011, there were 6,447 new cases of HIV reported in Los Angeles County, but only two were adult performers who did not contract the disease on-set. Since 2004, there have been no documented cases of HIV transmission on an adult entertainment set. In fact, with the industry’s strict testing protocols — requiring testing at least every 28 days for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis — adult performers are the most tested workforce in the nation.
No on Government Waste Committee
The Committee is comprised of entertainment companies, local business organizations, community activists, adult entertainment performers and healthcare advocates who oppose Measure B’s plan for creating an underfunded government inspection program diverting badly needed resources from local community clinics and underserved minority communities. For more information, please visit: http://www.noongovernmentwaste.com.
