Published : Jan. 13, 2013 - 11:47
The offices of Vivid Entertainment Group, an adult entertainment studio, are seen in the Studio City area of Los Angeles. An estimated 90 percent of U.S. porn films are made in Los Angeles, most of them in the suburban San Fernando Valley. (AP)
A prominent porn producer in California has filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County over its new law requiring porn actors to wear condoms during filming.
Vivid Entertainment filed the lawsuit to overturn the law Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The law, called Measure B, requires porn producers to purchase public health permits to film in Los Angeles County. The permits mandate that performers use condoms.
Vivid alleges the law, which was approved by Los Angeles County voters in the Nov. 6 election, is “an unconstitutional prior restraint upon protected expression.”
“The exercise of First Amendment freedoms cannot be limited by referendum,” the suit said.
“We will fight for our right to express ourselves as we please,” Vivid founder and co-Chief Executive Officer Steven Hirsch told the Times.
Hirsch said Vivid suspended filming within the county after Measure B went into effect in December.
Advocates for the condom law say it does not infringe upon First Amendment rights and is a health and safety measure intended to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
“This is not a free speech issue. This is a workplace safety issue,” said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “If they want to digitally remove a condom” from the final cut of a film, “there‘s no issue.”
County officials have not yet responded to the lawsuit. (UPI)
포르노 배우들, "이렇게는 못 살겠다!"
미국 캘리포니아 포르노 제작업체가 로스엔젤레스시(Los Angeles County)를 대상으로 포르노 배우들에게 콘돔을 쓰도록 한 법안에 대해 고소를 했다.
비비드엔터테인먼트(Vivid Entertainment)는 금요일 LA지방법원에서 법안을 바꾸기 위해 소송을 걸었다고 로스엔젤레스타임즈(Los Angeles Times)가 보도했다.
로스엔젤레스시는 공공보건의 목적에서 이같은 법안을 낸 것으로 전해졌다.
비비드엔터네인먼트의 설립자이자 공동CEO 스티븐 허쉬(Steven Hirsch)는 타임즈에 "우리는 표현의 자유를 위해 싸울 겁니다."라고 말했다.
해당 포르노 업체는 법안이 12월 집행된 이래 촬영이 금지되었다.
콘돔법 찬성자들은 법안이 수정법안 권리를 침해하지 않고 HIV나 다른 성병을 예방하는 건강하고 안전한 방법이라는 입장이다.
"발언 자유를 운운할 문제가 아닙니다. 안전 문제라고요."라고 AIDS보건재단(AIDS Healthcare Foundation) 대표인 마이클 웨인스타인(Michael Weinstein)이 말했다.
당국은 아직 소송에 대해 어떠한 입장도 밝히지 않았다. (코리아헤럴드)