LOS ANGELES—One can forgive Free Speech Coalition CEO Diane Duke for feeling exasperated with the publicity antics of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and its cloying campaign to impose mandatory condoms on adult performers. AHF and its mendacious president Michael Weinstein have been aggressively promoting half-truths and whole misperceptions about the industry, FSC, its leadership and the industry as a whole for years. They also show no sign of moderating their extreme and unsupported claims, including the not-so-subtle inference made in the press announcement for today's protest in front of the Cal/OSHA offices in downtown Los Angeles that the lineup of (usual suspect) performers speaking at the rally—Cameron Bay, Rod Daily, Derrick Burts, Darren James—contracted HIV on-set.
But the fact that no such proof of the implied on-set transmissions exist (and would by necessity if they had actually occurred) is borne out by their use of the vaguely worded phrase, "adult film performers who became infected with HIV while working in the adult film industry." Indeed, without some verifiable information that would allow one to conclude that on-set transmissions did in fact take place, one might just as well state that the adult performers "became infected with HIV while driving their cars in the San Fernando Valley." This is not to assuage any legitimate concerns the performers may have regarding health and safety protocols, but to clarify the absurdity of the claims unmistakably implied by AHF and its spokespeople.
And while we certainly do not mean to suggest emotions Duke may not be experiencing, a sense of exasperation does comes through loud and clear in the open letter to Weinstein she issued in reaction to today's protest, published here in its entirety:
Dear Mr. Weinstein,
For the past several years, you've made the campaign against adult film the centerpiece of your organizations media and fundraising strategy. With no actual cases of HIV that can be traced to work on regulated adult film sets, you've manufactured a crisis. It may grab headlines and donors but does very little to protect the men and women who work in this industry. Perhaps that's why for the length of your campaign, your proposals have been opposed by performers groups, LGBT groups, HIV outreach organizations, newspaper editorial boards and the City of Los Angeles.
But why go after Cai/OSHA?
After all, Cai/OSHA is currently in the process of drafting specific workplace regulations for the adult industry. Perhaps it concerns you that they intend to listen to representatives from performer groups, or that they might question the manufactured data you routinely use to shame performers. Or perhaps, you're afraid that they might address public health using science, rather than conservative morality.
We in the adult film industry understand that we're an easy target- few people are willing to stand up for the rights of our stars or filmmakers. But that doesn't mean that we don't have rights, or that your sanctimonious crusade should determine public health policy. We understand that it benefits AHF politically to portray adult film as the Wild West, but we are a legal business, and adult film performers are the most tested population on the planet.
The real disgrace, Mr. Weinstein, is the amount of money and time you spend staging political stunts for the benefit of AHF, while people in poor and underserved communities in Los Angeles are literally dying from a lack of resources around HIV/AIDS. The shame should be on you.
Sincerely,
Diane Duke
Chief Executive Officer
FSC also issued a statement in reaction to today's "protest" by AHF, also reprinted here in its entirety:
Cal/OSHA is currently in the process of drafting regulations specific to the adult film industry. We expect a draft version of the regulations to be available in just a few months and that those regulations will take into account the input of the affected workers - in this case, adult film performers and performer groups - something Michael Weinstein and AHF have refused to do.
This is why performers, HIV outreach organizations, LGBT rights groups, public health departments, and civil rights organizations have consistently opposed Mr. Weinstein's misguided attacks. We think that public policy should rest on science and data, rather than his personal moral objections to adult film.
For the record, adult film performers are tested for a full slate of STis, including HIV, every two weeks, in a system that has successfully prevented any transmission of HIV on a regulated adult film set for over ten years. (Mr. Weinstein routinely employs performers who contracted the virus in their personal lives in his campaigns against the adult film industry.)
In generating a manufactured crisis, Mr. Weinstein not only wastes tax dollars, he wastes resources that should be used to educate and treat communities where HIV is a real issue. Railing against the adult industry brings Mr. Weinstein more press attention than opening clinics in poor, underserved communities, but from the standpoint of public health it's cynical and shameful.
We understand that our industry is often misunderstood -something Mr. Weinstein capitalizes on time and again. For that reason, we're happy to talk with anyone about the industry, its safety record and the rights of performers.
