A third performer in the adult film industry has tested positive for HIV, leading to a new shutdown in porn production, industry officials announced Friday.
The Free Speech Coalition, which represents the industry, confirmed the result through a test performed under its PASS (Performer...
Availability Screening Services) medical program and called for a moratorium on production until further notice.
The name of the performer was not immediately released.
The Canoga Park-based coalition’s calls for moratoriums are considered voluntary but are generally obeyed by the industry’s major studios.
The group said its doctors with PASS are working to research the performer’s contacts and ensure the person receives medical care.
“While we don’t have evidence to suggest an on set transmission as opposed to a transmission from non-industry (off-camera) related activity, we are taking every measure to determine the source and to protect the performer pool,” the coalition said in a written statement. “The cost of retests required for generational partners will be covered by FSC/PASS.”
Dr. Sean Darcy with PASS said it appears the performer did not expose others in the industry because of a previous moratorium earlier this month imposed after actress Cameron Bay tested positive for HIV.
“Because of these precautionary steps, the performer who has now tested positive for HIV, had not performed since BEFORE the first moratorium and was prevented from performing due to the required retest,” Darcy said in a statement released by FSC. “Therefore, no performers were exposed to a new risk of on-set transmission as a result of this latest case, or Ms. Bay’s infection.”
Bay and porn actor Rod Daily, who were in a personal relationship with each other, disclosed they had been diagnosed as HIV-positive in the last month.
After Bay announced her test result, porn production was shut down for about a week while those she had recently filmed with were tested. All were cleared.
Then on Tuesday of this week, Daily, who said he acts exclusively in gay porn with condoms, announced he was HIV positive and said he and Bay had been dating for about a year.
That has given new fuel to arguments by activists that the industry is unable to police itself and must be required to use condoms in all production.
Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the nation’s largest AIDS/HIV care provider, called the latest infection “a tragedy that could have been avoided.”
“Whether it happened on the set or off the set, whether they’re performing in gay films or not in gay films, or working as escorts — it’s irrelevant,” Weinstein said. “People’s personal rights spill over into porn productions, and vice versa.”
He added that it gives more support to arguments for a bill now pending in the state Legislature that would require the use of condoms in porn production statewide, similar to what Los Angeles County voters approved last year with the AHF-backed Measure B.
The adult film industry has previously argued that its regimen of frequent testing and sharing of results has been effective in preventing widespread outbreaks.
It did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the latest infection.
In a statement, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said it has yet to receive a report about an HIV case.
“Because of medical confidentiality and privacy, Public Health will not comment on the details of individual cases or their contacts,” the agency said.
The infection of three porn performers over a span of about a month comes as the adult-film industry and AHF are waging a legal battle over whether condoms should be used during production.
The adult film industry largely opposes mandatory condom use because they say it would turn viewers off. But a federal judge last month upheld AHF’s argument that condoms should be used in the interest of public health.
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