Porn filming on hold as another performer tests positive for HIV

An immediate and indefinite moratorium has been placed on all porn filming after another performer may have tested positive for HIV.

“There was a positive test at one of our testing centers. Confirmatory tests are not yet back, but we are taking every precaution to protect performers and to determine if there’s been any threat to the performer pool,” said Diane Duke, chief executive of the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult film industry. “We take the health of our performers very seriously and felt that it was better to err on the side of caution.”

This is the third such voluntary moratorium announced in the last year prompted by HIV concerns.

Last summer, the Free Speech Coalition called a weeklong filming stoppage after an actress who goes by the screen name Cameron Bay tested positive for HIV. Her boyfriend, adult film actor Rod Daily, later announced that he had also tested positive.

A second moratorium was put in place after a third performer tested positive. Filming resumed in September, with new protocols that required performers to be tested every 14 days rather than every 28.

The industry group has vigorously opposed a county law passed in 2012 that mandates condom use by porn actors.

Porn filming in Los Angeles has plummeted 90 percent since then, according to recent data released by FilmL.A. Inc., the nonprofit that handles film permits for the city and county.

A similar proposal pending in the state Legislature was shelved earlier this month.

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