CANOGA PARK, Calif. — Attorney Karen Tynan, who acts as the Free Speech Coalition's legal advisor for performer database system APHSS.org, has issued a letter to Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, asking him to disregard calls to enforce mandatory condom use through film permit requirements for adult productions.
The FSC's APHSS unit is acting on a memo sent to Trutanich by Cal/OSHA, which wants to hand off enforcement of health and safety regulations to local agencies. In the memo, Cal/OSHA advocates for new ordinances that would require condoms on the porn set.
"The opinions in the letter are conclusory and are not supported by California case law or the legislative intent of any of the code sections cited," Tynan said in the letter. "Cal/OSHA's invitation for the city of Los Angeles to enter into the condom police business is landmine no city should try to navigate.
In the letter, Tynan said that the memo was "unprecedented on a legal basis" and would allow local authorities to enforce regulations "without clear authority to do so."
“When I saw that counsel for Cal/OSHA was advising the city of Los Angeles to jump into this issue, I was appalled,” Tynan said. “I don’t see Cal/OSHA writing to the city council of Bakersfield or Fresno imploring those cities to write regulations on heat illness to protect the field workers, so why is Cal/OSHA taking this position on condoms?"
The letter also notes that there's several conflicts of interest raised by the relationship between the Cal/OSHA and nonprofit HIV organization AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has been pressing the matter of mandatory condom use in porn productions for years.
Tynan pointed to evidence that shows that AHF has provided expert witnesses and its own physicians to give testimony in proceedings regarding adult industry health and safety, while adult industry stakeholders have had limited opportunities to present testimony or counterpoints to the data provided by AHF.
"This is another glaring example of the politics, judgment, and discrimination that swirl around the condom issue," she said. “I certainly hope that the Los Angeles City Attorney and his staff attorneys can cut through the misinformation and propaganda that continues to pour forth from AHF and their allies."
