LOS ANGELES — The industry-led move to defeat Proposition 60, the California Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, is continuing its appeal to voters — and garnering considerable support in the process.
Prop 60 would go beyond mandating condom-only productions in California to open the door to a wave of frivolous lawsuits and performer harassment.
Over the past weekend, Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Eric Paul Leue, along with adult performers Ela Darling and Chanel Preston, appeared on San Francisco’s KGO Radio AM 810 as guests on the Maureen Langan Show — following up on last week’s visit by FSC attorney Karen Tynan and FSC policy director Siouxsie Q to KGO’s Pat Thorsten Show.
In the meantime, the nation’s largest Spanish-language newspaper, La Opinión, has come out in strong opposition to Prop 60, citing its ability to sue and harass workers, and push the industry underground.
Another major media player, the San Francisco Examiner, stated “It should not be left to the voters to regulate workplace safety on porn shoots,” while the high-desert Victor Valley Press, also said “No on 60,” bringing the state’s 10 largest newspapers into the fold — raising the total to more than two dozen papers adopting an anti-60 stance.
“The Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties all oppose Prop 60, as do a host of other groups. That bothers us. When was the last time you can remember Republicans and Democrats agreeing on just about anything? Yet on this they do?” explains the Daily Press Editorial Board. “That’s worrisome.”
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and its president, Michael Weinstein, are the sole backers of Prop 60, having spent some $5 million on the cause — and securing a special legal status for Weinstein in the process.
“[Also worrying] is the wording of some parts of the measure, which appear to set up [Weinstein] as a sort of state porn czar,” adds the Daily Press Editorial Board. “The text of the measure even refers to him as a state employee who would be paid by the state to defend the Act in court if the state Attorney General chose not to.”
Other recent highlights in the fight against Prop 60 include last week’s march on AHF’s Los Angeles office by more than 200 adult industry supporters, as well as banner campaigns and the coordinated blocking of visitors to adult sites coming from California IP addresses.
These efforts, among many others, have led to a drop in voter support for Prop 60 to less than 40 percent and falling, just ahead of the upcoming elections on November 8.
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