Special Election May Be Required To Settle Condom Debate

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Should adult film performers be required to use condoms? Residents of the City of Los Angeles may be forced to spend millions of dollars on a special election to answer the question once and for all.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has collected nearly double the number of signatures necessary to pass a city initiative seeking to force male adult film actors to wear condoms while performing.

Representatives for the Foundation say the initiative is critical.

"What is clear is that the performer population carries a disproportionate amount of the community disease burden," says Foundation representative Brian Chase.

But adult film actor turned entrepreneur Sascha Koch says passing this initiative would be bad for business.

"If someone wants to watch a porn, he doesn't want to see a condom," says Koch.

Koch says when other porn makers instituted condom policies, their sales dropped. "Now it's only one company left that actually uses condoms," he says.

CBS2's Jay Jackson reports the $12 billion dollar-per-year adult film industry has successfully fought condom law efforts in the past. This despite the fact that 22 actors have tested positive for HIV since 2004.

Though the City of Los Angeles has no ballot scheduled for June of 2012, the Foundation hopes the final say will be given to LA voters at that time, rather than to the courts over the next month.

City leaders have taken legal steps to block a ballot initiative, a move Koch insists will save LA from potential revenue loss.

"It'll cost jobs," says Koch. "So the taxes are going to be paid in Germany for purchasing product in Germany versus here."

Koch says adult films will be made without condoms somewhere. "That's not gonna change," he says.

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