LOS ANGELES — Officers for the Adult Performers Actors Guild, known as APAG, have formally voted to oppose Proposition 60.
APAG, the guild that represents performers, has been associated with the International Entertainment Adult Union (IEAU), which is headed by adult performer Phyllisha Anne, since its inception earlier this year.
IEAU has acted as a so-called “mother union” to APAG and other groups such as the 424 Local Crew Union, representing film crews, and the Exotics Dancers Guild.
But Anne over the course of the past summer has taken the opposing view of APAG’s majority regarding Prop 60, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation-sponsored initiative on the November general election ballot.
This past summer, APAG and the 424 Local Crew Union worked to remove an untrue statement from an AHF rebuttal to Prop 60 that was slated for printing in the election ballot. In a statement signed by IEAU founder Anne, support was given to the Yes on Prop 60 campaign on behalf of the adult film workers.
But a state court ruled that it was a false endorsement because APAG and the 424 Local Crew Union members had not actually reviewed or voted to take a position on Prop 60.
Today, APAG’s communication director, Bella Doll, spoke out about the group’s decision to support opposition to Prop 60.
Anne “sold us out to Michael Weinstein and AHF after she refused to swear me in as an elected board member, and relieved me of my duties as communications director,” said Doll, who later was asked to come back to the organization.
“As a result, a chilling effect was created over those remaining, who, afraid to speak out, voted to remain neutral on the ballot initiative at that time,” Doll said.
In a statement, APAG said Prop 60 is “the most serious threat to California’s adult industry in decades” and not about condoms — “it represents a Trojan horse with a poison pill.”
“The law would create a new government agency headed by proponent Michael Weinstein himself — with a lifetime mandate and arbitrary administrative control over not only the adult industry but also Cal/OSHA,” APAG said.
“It even supersedes the authority of the Calif. Attorney General. It would allow, among other things, for any citizen in the state to sue adult producers directly for apparent violations of the law, even though they have suffered no damages,” the group said.
“It goes on to offer private citizens a 25 percent-of-the-fine bounty for finding what might appear to be condom-less content, which, according to the law, is automatically presumed to be in violation and requires an affirmative defense to prevail in a dispute,” APAG said.
“Trial lawyers would be the second-biggest winners here, after the proponent, and are poised to engage in a witch hunt for profit. This is an egregious abuse of our judicial system in the false name of safety.”
