How California’s marriage equality case can (and should) sink L.A.’s ‘condoms in porn’ law.
Most of us remember where we were when the Supreme Court issued its 2013 ruling overturning Proposition 8. It was a day of celebration, as the streets from West Hollywood to the Castro and beyond swelled with revelers filled with optimism and pride. But what many don’t remember about that day is the avenue in which marriage equality was restored to the Golden State. Rather than decide on the merits of Prop. 8 — whether the U.S. Constitution allows California to ban same-sex marriage — the justices ruled that the official sponsors of the ballot initiative lacked “standing” to defend the measure before the court. In other words, since California government officials declined to put on a defense, there was nobody left with enough of a stake to warrant review.
Fast-forward to today, and this precedent is being tested with another issue affecting our community, and gay men in particular. In 2012 voters in Los Angeles County voted to approve an initiative known as Measure B. Sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Measure B, among other things, bans condomless sex in adult films.
The law is facing a robust constitutional challenge from the adult entertainment industry on First Amendment grounds. And Los Angeles County officials, the defendants named in the lawsuit, have declined to put on a defense of the measure, just as California declined to defend Proposition 8. L.A. County even went so far as to agree that the lawsuit “presents important constitutional questions that require and warrant judicial determination.” Measure B was left to languish, undefended and vulnerable, until the AIDS Healthcare Foundation — which admittedly does some valuable work otherwise — stepped in to defend it in court. Sound familiar?
