Most mainstream outlets don’t cover the porn industry very closely, so when most people hear about it, it’s just the “adult industry halts production after performer tests positive” story that happens every few years, followed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation calling for tougher condoms-in-porn laws. The most recent story, about production shutting down after performer Cameron Bay (above) tested positive for HIV, is basically a repeat of a similar story from 2011, only this time with a reality TV angle (Bay was on Vh-1’s Tool Academy, and one of her recent co-stars went on to have unprotected sex with Wiener text mistress Sydney Leathers).
Before we go any further, it should be noted that the 2011 case was eventually found to have been a false positive, a few weeks after most news outlets lost interest.
First, the story:
Cameron Bay, a female performer who according to various web sources has come in and out of the industry since as far back as 2010 using names including Ashton, Cameron Lane and Ryder, told AVN late Wednesday that she is the performer who received a possible though unconfirmed HIV-positive test result today, causing the APHSS to call for an industry-wide moratorium on production.
Bay, who is currently represented by Adult Talent Managers LA (ATMLA), said she tested [last] Monday at Cutting Edge Testing (CET) after not having shot any content since July 31 due to an unrelated injury. She received her last clean test July 27. [AVN – link NSFW]
Then, the usual back and forth:
[AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Michael Weinstein]
‘How many adult film performers have to become infected with an array of preventable sexually transmitted diseases — including HIV, which is not curable — before the porn industry actually complies with the law requiring condom use,’ he said in a statement.
Since the ordinance’s adoption, county officials have said they are investigating one violation.
Assemblyman Isadore Hall III, who is pushing for the state to adopt a similar law, called Wednesday’s news ‘devastating and preventable.’
‘Exposing workers to this type of harm would not be accepted in any other industry in this nation,’ the Los Angeles Democrat said.
The industry, which says its audience does not want to see condoms, is fighting the Los Angeles County measure in court. [DailyMail]
[Adult Industry Lobbying Group the Free Speech Coalition]
Diane Duke, executive director of the industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition, told the Associated Press in an e-mail about the HIV detection: ‘The moratorium will be lifted once the risk of transmission has been eliminated.
‘In fact, since 2004 there have only been two cases of performers testing positive for HIV and neither of those situations involved on-set transmission,’ Duke said.
‘The current situation would bring the number to three cases in nearly 10 years, not just in Los Angeles but nationwide.’
We’ll be hoping the case turns out to be a false positive like the last one, but if not, it will be interesting to see if it involved an on-set transmission. The Adult Production Health & Safety Services (APHSS, a group that does testing for the industry) says “There is no indication of on-set transmission,” though it’s hard to say how they’d know that.
Because logic would dictate that a condom law applying to adult film sets wouldn’t do anything to prevent HIV transmission that isn’t occurring on adult film sets, and that you’d need at least one example of the current testing standards not working to prove that the current testing standards aren’t working. Not that facts or logic have ever gotten in the way of an argument about sex. My personal favorite is “C’mon, baby, you’ll love it.”
[pic via Cameron Bay’s Twitter, @Cams_FunboxXx]