News

Porn Star Tests Positive For HIV

by Ana Maria Defillo

In Los Angeles county, a porn actor has tested positive for HIV. The news is causing a stir within the industry, especially considering it follows a recent ruling by a federal judge rejecting the porn industry's claim that mandating condoms in its production is unconstitutional.

Late last year, a mandate known as Measure B, which requires that porn stars wear condoms during vaginal and anal intercourse in adult films, passed with 56 percent of the vote.

The adult film industry trade group, The Free Speech Coalition, is actively fighting the mandate and states that the industry already has strict standards for safe sex. The group runs mandatory STI testing for actors every 14 or 28 days. If they aren't tested, they can't perform.

In regards to the recent positive HIV test, Diane Duke, CEO of The Free Speech Coalition, quickly commented that "There is no indication of on-set transmission."

Furthermore, the group claims an actor has not been HIV positive since 2004, and that actor did not contract the virus on set.

Officials have not identified the performer who's tested positive for HIV.

In the recent ruling, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson wrote that the defendants presented adequate evidence to support the mandate.

The law "will in fact alleviate those harms in a direct and material way," Pregerson wrote.

The adult porn industry plans to continue to fight the mandate to ensure their audience won't have to endure watching the apparently unsexy act of safe sex.