Don’t Forget Local Liberty – Re L.A. City Council Requires Condom Use in Adult Film Production

This article touches upon an adult theme. If this bothers you, please go back to the home page.

It’s easy to focus on federal issues of liberty when the IRS extracts the most money from your wallet and the TSA is waiting to fondle you at the airport. I must admit that I am guilty of focusing on federal transgressions. At the Libertarian Party candidate informational session, one question asked was how could a liberty oriented person have an effect at the local level.

Libertarians focus on scope of government in both the actions that that government takes and the actions that it prohibits. John Jay Myers, former Libertarian candidate for Dallas City Council, ran a campaign focused on eliminating the taxpayer funded hotel. In fact, the issue inspired him to run for the local government position. Recently the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve mandating the use of condoms in the making of adult films. The city council would deny permits to producers who do not comply with the requirement.  Of course, the first question from a liberty perspective is why would someone need a permit to film a movie where the movie is filmed with voluntary participants inside a building and neither requires nor asks anything of other taxpayers. Then come the questions of the enforcement mechanism and its impact on liberty. The article directly points out the folly in enforcing such a statute, while the provisions indirectly point out the impracticality:

Before the measure can take effect, however, the council has called for the creation of a committee of police officials, the city attorney, state health officials and others to determine how it might be enforced.

Let’s hope that they don’t go to the liberty-affronting approaches used in the drug war or the war on terror. Should L.A. citizens expect “inspections?” Would the inspection be limited to the districts where adult film is produced? Or “in order to be fair,” would they be conducted citywide. Would romantic couples with a camera become suspects? Will there be raids on addresses associated with IP addresses for live streams appearing to come from within the city limits?

According to the article, the total adult film industry produces $8 billion a year in revenue, with a key portion presumably coming from the production and sales of films (and 90% of that benefitting L.A.). If producers were to follow the new requirement, industry insiders believe that people will buy less adult films. Thus producers have incentive to maintain profits, meaning that they must consider producing outside L.A. The International Business Times article notes that insider experts predict the movement of the industry outside Los Angeles to other locations, such as Las Vegas or San Francisco. In other words, money will leave the city of Los Angeles and condoms will likely not end up being used in films.

As Tabitha Stevens says:

If you want to wear [condoms], wear them. If you don’t, don’t. That’s up to the talent to decide. It shouldn’t be up to the government to decide.

Los Angeles needs Libertarian city council members… and so does Dallas. If you are considering running for office don’t forget about local liberty.