LOS ANGELES—Despite calls from the overzealous AIDS Healthcare Foundation to pull adult filming permits in the city after news broke last week of an adult performer testing HIV positive, the Los Angeles City Council has refused to do so, citing a lack of interest in the issue among the governing body and possible legal ramifications.
During a city council meeting last Friday AHF general counsel Brian Chase called on Film LA, the body responsible for issuing film permits, and on the city, to temporarily cease issuing permits for adult film production “until it is known who has been exposed and until that information has been disclosed to public health authorities.”
Councilman Richard Alarcon on Friday summarily rejected AHF’s demands.
“I don't think there's a majority or even close to a majority [on the council] that are even interested in this subject,” Alarcon told the council. “To pull the permits for all the businesses…could cause some severe legal challenges that could cost the taxpayers money.
“As much as many of us are appalled by that activity, they are completely willing and capable of defending themselves with the highest paid lawyers to fight for their civil rights and, to date, they have been able to fend off these kinds of challenges.”
AVN.com broke the story of an adult performer testing HIV positive last Wednesday, and to date, it’s been the only confirmed positive test. While the mainstream media has sensationalized this story as an “outbreak,” so far, that has not been the case.
“That's not to say we're not sensitive to the issues of HIV and the spread of HIV," added Alarcon. “It’s just to say to pull the permits for all the businesses when we could not say for sure they're acting inappropriately, could cause some severe legal challenges that cost the taxpayers money.”
It’s the City Council’s call on filming permit policies, not Film LA’s.
AHF plans to continue its drumbeat against the adult industry by visiting the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ biweekly meeting tomorrow night in an attempt to compel the body to step up Health Department intervention in the industry.
