LOS ANGELES — Evil Angel founder John Stagliano said today that thanks to porn activists, Proposition 60 was defeated.
In a crucial victory for public health, California commerce and the porn industry, Golden State voters soundly rejected Proposition 60, the mandatory condom law espoused by AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, Stagliano said.
“This triumph would not have been possible without tremendous contributions from the entire porn industry,” Stagliano said. “The Free Speech Coalition and FSC leader Eric Paul Leue organized this effort; companies including Vivid, Adam & Eve and Evil Angel made financial contributions. A host of porn performers drove the movement, led by Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC) President Ella Darling, APAC Chairwoman Chanel Preston and superstar Julia Ann.
“Porn star volunteers raised funds and made appearances to spread awareness of the cause; some, like Tasha Reign, donated their own money. And porn stars engaged voters with a vibrant social media campaign.”
Stagliano said that, “Perhaps now, the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation will stop illegally wasting their donors’ dollars on political fights and spend them on programs that benefit the sick and needy.”
The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee and San Jose Mercury News all opposed Prop. 60, as did both the California Democratic Party and the California Republican Party, Stagliano said.
“They and the porn industry got the message to voters,” he noted.
Stagliano said the poorly drafted Prop 60, theoretically designed to protect porn talent, would in fact have made California’s adult performers far less safe, and the proposition’s draconian measures would have forced the multibillion-dollar industry out of state.
The worst thing about Prop 60, he said, was that it would have replaced existing, effective STD testing standards with less effective tests conducted less often.
“Thanks to California voters and the activists that engaged them, porn producers and wage earners are no longer threatened with unsafe standards or the loss of their livelihood.”
