FSC: Goggles, Gloves Could Be Required on Calif. Porn Sets as Early as January

CANOGA PARK, Calif. — The Free Speech Coalition announced today it will continue fighting newly revised Cal/OSHA regulations that as proposed would mandate goggles, condoms, dental dams, gloves and other skin guards for adult performers.

The revised regulations that amend California Code of Regulations Title 8 § 5193 were released in mid-October and ignored extensive opposition by performers, producers, and health experts, the FSC said. 

Now, the proposed Section 5193.1 — mandating barrier protection, including condoms, to shield performers from contact with bloodborne pathogens, or other potentially infectious material during the production of films — will go to a full vote before Cal/OSHA’s rulemaking body.

If passed, as expected, the regulations would take effect likely during the second quarter of 2016.

Opponents of the regulations, including the Free Speech Coalition and the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, have until Nov. 3 to respond to file formal response; however Cal/OSHA has expressed that many of the most controversial items, including condoms, eye and skin guards, and dental dams, are no longer up for debate.

“This isn’t regulation, this is a complete shutdown of adult production,” said Diane Duke, CEO of the Free Speech Coalition. “Asking adult performers to wear goggles is up there with asking ballerinas to wear boots. It does not only not match the threat, and it effectively prohibits production in California.”

The regulations have been spearheaded by the controversial AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has lobbied for greater control of the multibillion-dollar adult industry in California.

Earlier this year, adult performers and performer groups protested at a preliminary Cal/OSHA hearing, after an initial draft of the regulations was circulated in the spring.

Included in the regulations for adult performers are:

• Mandatory goggle and eye protection;
• Dental dams and condoms for oral sex;
• Skin guards and gloves to prevent fluid contact; and,
• Mandatory vaccinations for adult performers

The Cal/OSHA regulations come in conjunction with a 2016 ballot initiative that would allow private citizens to sue performers who don’t use condoms. The AHF has funded both the regulation and the legislation.

Adult performers are currently tested for a full slate of STIs, including HIV, every 14 days.

The Free Speech Coalition had previously submitted to Cal/OSHA an alternative plan that incorporates a variety of safety precautions, including testing, PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), and performer choice over condoms. Duke said there has not been an on-set transmission of HIV on a regulated adult set since 2004.

“The adult industry is facing its biggest existential threat since the Meese Commission in the 1980s,” Duke said. “Back then, it was obscenity and vice squads. Now it’s Cal/OSHA regs and a ballot initiative. But the intent and effect is the same: to harass adult performers, to scare adult producers, and to put a multibillion dollar industry out of business merely because they object to the content.”