Michael Weinstein announced that he’s gathered the signatures needed for his 2016 ballot initiative, which would install the controversial anti-sex crusader as California’s first ‘Porn Czar.’ This is no surprise — he has already spent over a million dollar to get his initiative on the ballot.
So far, Weinstein has failed three times to get California legislators to mandate barrier protection — including condoms, goggles and dental dams — on adult sets, where there hasn’t been a transmission of HIV in over ten years. His previous attempts have been opposed by performers groups, the LA County Commission on HIV, the SF AIDS Foundation and the ACLU. The Los Angeles County Health Departments found the regulations so odious that they refused to enforce them.
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This is why his new ballot initiative includes a dangerous provision which installs Weinstein himself as the Act’s chief enforcer. Section 10 of the Initiative, titled “Legal Defense” proposes that “the proponent of this Act” — Weinstein — will take the Oath of Office and be deputized to go after adult performers and producers, and to use unlimited state funds to do so — effectively becoming California’s first “Porn Czar.”
The Attorney General’s office has estimated the initiative will cost California tens of millions of dollars. Weinstein has already raided the coffers of the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation for over $1.1 million dollars for this campaign alone. By AHF’s own estimates, that money could have provided healthcare care for over 1,000 patients living with HIV this year alone.
Diane Duke, head of the Free Speech Coalition, was unequivocal in her opposition.
“The last thing California needs is a million-dollar porn czar to police adult performers. Weinstein has already wasted millions of dollars of nonprofit funds to harass adult performers. Money that should have gone to prevention campaigns in high risk communities has instead been spent attacking a highly regulated industry that hasn’t seen an on-set HIV transmission in over ten years. At a time when Weinstein is under investigation for defrauding the federal government of nearly $100 million dollars, he’s now is asking for a key to the state treasury. It’s Weinstein’s ultimate porn fantasy.”
