LA Passes Porn Condom Law

Los Angeles has defied the porn industry's threat to quit the city and passed a law requiring porn actors to wear condoms during filming. The City Council voted 9-1 for final approval of the ordinance, which is set to go into effect in 90 days, the Los Angeles Times reports. A film permit fee will fund surprise inspections on porn shoots. California occupational health authorities already require porn actors to wear condoms, but that rule is almost never enforced, Reuters notes.

"Clearly, this is about the government overreaching and intruding into consenting adults’ decisions,” complained the chief of a porn industry trade group. “They are taking something they know nothing about and imposing their morality on our industry." The head of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which spent years fighting for the condom law, says he doesn't believe the porn industry will leave town. "They’d hardly be welcomed in West Virginia or Utah or Mississippi, or even a place like Nevada, where legal prostitution is highly regulated and condoms are required," he says. "And we will follow them wherever they go." (More Los Angeles stories.)