Condoms

Los Angeles has been a fighting a tide of runaway production of big-budget movies and television dramas. Now it may face an emigration of another homegrown industry - adult entertainment. That's the specter raised by some of the hundreds of porn producers in L.A. after voters approved Measure B, which requires performers to wear condoms and establishes a new permitting system for adult entertainment shoots. PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments The law was advocated by AIDS activists who argued it would protect performers from disease outbreaks.

For the most part, the group assembled in the Sofitel meeting room appeared classically corporate: heavy on suits and button-down shirts, wearing laminated name tags. Hotel memo pads and pencils were placed on tables for use during panel discussions. Attendees nibbled on pain au chocolat . Along a wall were slick trade-show banners - including one for the Sex & Mischief line of "fantasy-play accessories. " It featured a black-and-white photo of a stylish woman, smiling, clad in a collar and leash.

Los Angeles County voters were close to approving a three-decade extension of a transportation sales tax Tuesday night, and a health measure requiring adult film actors to wear condoms was way ahead in early returns. An advisory vote on whether the county assessor should be appointed -- a byproduct of the corruption case pending against elected Assessor John Noguez -- was far behind. A tax on sugary drinks in El Monte was also losing, with Mayor Andre Quintero calling the margin "insurmountable.

Voters told public health officials to begin monitoring the filming of sex scenes in pornographic movies. On Wednesday, the county was trying to figure out how. The new law requires porn actors to wear condoms and establishes a permitting system similar in some ways to how Los Angeles County inspects restaurants. Porn producers are required to purchase health permits from the county, which will do spot inspections on porn sets to make sure condoms are being used. The inspectors can close production if the filmmakers don't comply with the rules.

When Los Angeles County voters go to the polls on election day, the ballot will include a question they've never seen before: Should pornographic movie performers be required to wear condoms during filming? From now until Nov. 6, analysts say, supporters and opponents of Measure B could have a tricky time convincing them to even consider the point. "Not only is it an issue that's not particularly important to voters, but it's way down the ballot," said Darry Sragow, a longtime political strategist and attorney unaffiliated with either side of the campaign.

At first glance, the county's Measure B, which would require the use of condoms in adult films shot in Los Angeles, seems fairly hard to rebut: Other than a few self-interested pornographers, who could be against mandating safe-sex practices? And yet, the measure is both more and less than it seems. It's a well-meaning attempt to promote safe-sex practices and, at least on the part of some supporters, to protect workers in the adult film industry. But it goes further than many people realize toward stifling what is, after all, a legal business, while doing relatively little to ensure the safety of those who are part of that business.

Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a rare and often outspoken liberal within the highly conservative Catholic Church hierarchy who was nevertheless often mentioned as a candidate for pope, died Friday. He was 85. Martini, a Jesuit and former archbishop of the important archdiocese of Milan, had Parkinson's disease. The archdiocese announced his death. For years, Martini had been Europe's most prominent liberal cardinal, frequently voicing openness on such divisive church issues as priestly celibacy, homosexuality and the use of condoms to fight AIDS.

Faced with a new law requiring that actors wear condoms during porn shoots, Los Angeles officials have recommended that the City Council begin searching for a medical professional to conduct inspections of adult film performances. In a report to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the council, a working group focused on ways to enforce the condom ordinance said Film L.A. Inc., the office that processes film permits, should rework its applications so passages that deal with hazardous working conditions and dangerous special effects also mention the "transmission of blood and infectious materials.

Michael Kinsley, I may have uncovered your next worst thing: porn actors without condoms. You may recall that, in a recent Times Op-Ed article, Kinsley wrote about changing attitudes on same-sex marriage, and then mused about what other issues Americans will undergo a change in attitude on: There is something you think today that will seem preposterous and even offensive to your 20-years-from-now self, if you're still around. Some injustice that will seem obvious, although right now we can't see it at all. What will it be?

LONDON -- For the Olympic Summer of Love, the IOC insists on an official form of protection. Kidding aside, you know the Games are creeping to an end when these stories start to pop up in the second week. News gets a little slower, a little sillier. For instance, there was a TV crew doing a piece on the chair massage station in the Main Press Center. But back to the controversy. The Guardian newspaper detailed the story of unofficial condoms ending up in the Olympic Village.