Politicized For Your Protection.
While it may be fun to inject our own political agenda into each and every thing that happens on a daily basis, this can often lead to a skewed perception of reality, which can often lead to a persecution complex.
The article quoted above seemed to be speaking about standard state health code violations which are designed to protect ALL workers in ANY profession from being exposed to bodily fluids without the proper barrier protection.
I'm quite sure this applies to phlebotomists just as much as it applies to fluffers, fuckers, and cocksuckers.
At some point, after the recent "scandal" a short time ago which was discussed here, in which a porn star became infected with HIV, allegedly from on-the-job contact, someone in the CA state legislature certainly thought it would be a good idea to apply the EXISTING law to the situation and put some pressure on the porn industry.
Big deal.
Hospitals have strict rules which enforce the very same law -- and frankly, I WANT those rules enforced. While some laws are outdated, antiquated, and just plain foolish, MOST laws exist for a good reason. There IS a good reason for these health code laws to be in place. I would hope the citizenry of California would approve of these laws which are constructed to help protect them in a professional setting.
Sure, maybe somewhere in the chain of decision-makers there sits someone who thinks: "This will make things tough on the faggots." That person can be found just about everywhere. But these laws do not discriminate against gays -- they apply to the entire porn industry. We may tend to forget, but straight porn is a HUGE part of that industry.
If McDonald's violates a health code in their kitchen, they can be fined. It doesn't matter if they are making high cholesterol product: it is the CHOICE of the public whether or not to purchase that product. If you make the choice to eat a Big Mac for lunch, you'd probably want that served WITHOUT rat feces or roach legs in the special sauce.
This is NOT about sexual repression, unless you decide that it is based on your own political agenda. This is about HEALTH CODE LAWS which the porn industry ignored in the state of California.
The state found a nifty catch-all after the recent controversy. The porn industry is a legitimate business, and as such, falls under the jurisdiction of the laws which already exist.
Truthfully, it would be hypocritical of the state to NOT enforce these laws. Why should ONE type of job be exempt when all the others are not?
It's really all a matter of how you look at things, if you can see them as they really are or if you see them through your own political veil.
Even if such sentiments exist, I sure don't see any comments from the State Of California saying that this measure is now being enforced in order to TEACH the viewers of porn about safe sex. It's about protecting the actors and employees of the porn industry.
New laws are added as new situations arise which may warrant them. With the advent of the HIV epidemic, it makes perfectly logical sense that new standards would be put in place to protect health care workers and workers in ANY other profession who might come into contact with infectious bodily fluids and other bio-hazardous material.
While it is certainly true that Big Brother is often working behind the scenes to come up with obscure ways to stifle fun and frivolity, this is not one of them.
In MY city, there are laws in place which restrict the public showing of ANY type of pornography. There are NO porn theaters, no ABSs with video booths. Citizens can buy and rent films, but they cannot be shown in any public venue. Some smaller cities and town are dry -- no liquor is sold of any kind. If residents want alcohol, they need to go elsewhere to get it. In my local area, one county sells alcohol until 1:00 AM in stores. Another county sells it until 2:00 AM. State and local laws vary. I do not like the porn laws of my community -- I wish I had an ABS around here. Lawmakers are responding to the demands placed upon them by the citizens of this area who do NOT want porn shown publicly. Given the extreme conservative nature of the constituency here, it is unlikely that even if a liberal official was voted into office that this would change. He or she would probably never stay in office for long if he or she took those laws off the books. The public WANTS them there.
Laws are in place in nearly every state and city in the nation which prohibit smoking in public places. Smokers have had "freedoms" taken from them in recent years. Most smokers see the logic in this and are respectful of the rights of others who do not wish to be exposed to smoke. Perhaps we should repeal those laws, too. If we believe that porn actors and viewers have a "right" to see whatever kind of sex they want to see, then we should also support the rights of smokers to smoke wherever they want. Isn't that fair? What? Second hand smoke is MORE dangerous than unsafe sex? How so? Unsafe sex spreads disease. A porn actor with HIV fucks a guy in a bar, gives HIM HIV, and he gives it to four other people at a bathhouse over the following year. THEY give it to more people... ETC. A smoker in a restaurant passes second hand smoke to someone sitting at a table ten feet away. The person ten feet away gets... what, exactly? They sure don't get cancer with a single exposure to smoke. While you also don't necessarily get HIV from every sexual act with an HIV positive person, if you DO get it, you DIE.
We all still have our own choices to make. We can smoke, we can have unsafe sex, we can drink, we can drink and drive, we can parachute out of planes, we can remain in our trailers during hurricanes, we can cross the street against the light.
If we don't want any government involvement in our lives at all anymore, we need to also remove DUI laws from the books. Make it legal. Why not? We don't need anyone "telling" us what to do, right? It's infringement of our rights!
Extremism is so, so dangerous...
And while we're at it, let's stop all this nonsense at the airports. The security measures are out of control, don't you think? MORE government interference, alas. "They" pretend they are trying to protect us, but in reality it is just bureaucratic bullshit, right? They just want to find even MORE ways to make our lives that much more difficult and bothersome.
It's fun and easy to slam hypocrisy labels on others who at least TRY to do the right thing. A smoker who preaches safe sex... well, THAT person MUST be a hypocrite. How DARE he or she think of the safety of others when he or she is "draining the health care system," right?
For years and years I've been hearing complaints from the left-wing extremists who say that the government is IGNORE THE AIDS CRISIS. "Where's the outrage?" they ask. "Where is the education we need?" they wonder. "Why isn't the White House DOING something?" they want to know.
WHAT IS IT YOU WANT? ONE state enforces a rule of law which was created BECAUSE of the AIDS crisis, and now we bitch about that? Aren't you the SAME PEOPLE who want the government to RECOGNIZE THE PROBLEM?
"Oh, yes... but this isn't the way to do it. This infringes on our rights!"
WHAT rights? The right to spread disease? I don't see that in the Constitution Of The United States, nor in the constitution of ANY state!
How many complaints were heard about the Reagan Administration's amazing lack of concern regarding the AIDS crisis. And just how many more say the same thing about the Bush Administration? And I AGREE -- but at the same time, I am NOT a hypocrite who gets riled if someone, somewhere actually DOES something about it!
Either you WANT some help with this crisis or you don't. Which is it?
Some folks just WANT ANY EXCUSE to get pissed off without thinking things through. Makes it easier to justify their own rationalizations when they are pissed off, you know?
We need more funding. We need more education. We need more people on OUR SIDE. We need more people in OUR OWN COMMUNITY to take a stand against this disease. We need to petition for government assistance in the fight against HIV, and we EQUALLY need to do our own part.
My conscience is clear on this, at least.
It's all in how you look at it. If you WANT to see a conspiracy, it is extremely easy to create one in order to add fuel to your own political views.
Some people look up in the sky and see UFOs gathering for an alien invasion of planet Earth. Other people look up and see weather balloons and airplane contrails.
There is NOTHING in the enforcement of this law that discriminates against homosexuals. Straight porn doesn't have as much condom use as gay porn because GAY PORN MAKERS MADE THAT DECISION FOR THEMSELVES!
I had previously thought it was a law which stated that gay porn MUST have condoms used for anal sex. Corey corrected my thinking on that (thanks). Even though I would support such a law if it were to ever exist, I am EXTREMELY PLEASED that gay porn filmakers decided to do this ON THEIR OWN. THEY are making a statement FOR the gay community (and clearly covering their own asses against frivolous litigation, but still...).
This law is being enforced for ALL porn, not just gay porn.
It's still perfectly legal to purchase bareback porn -- go do that. It's still legal to buy porn made in other countries which have no such laws -- go do that.
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