Porn filming can resume, group says

LOS ANGELES – An adult-film performer whose HIV-positive test prompted a weeklong shutdown of Los Angeles-area productions has been retested with negative results, a trade group said.

The Free Speech Coalition, a national trade organization for the adult entertainment industry, recommended that the filming moratorium be lifted as it looks into the reasons for the false positive test.

“After discussion with our medical expert, he has advised that it would be appropriate for production to resume and the focus of attention be brought to those who had worked with the performer. That group is already receiving care,” the group’s executive director, Diane Duke, said in a written statement.

The performer, whose name, age and sex were not disclosed, received the initial positive results at a Florida testing facility that Duke said did not appear to have procedures in place for testing first- and second-generation partners or for follow-up care.

Local production companies were notified Aug. 29 of the test outcome and agreed to hold off on filming. Those who had been in scenes with the performer were urged to get tested.

The performer’s subsequent test was administered by the Adult Performer Health and Safety Services, which is run by the Free Speech Coalition.