Gay porn industry not affected by HIV scare

An HIV scare in the straight porn industry that has shut down production at nearly two dozen companies after two actors tested positive for HIV infection has not extended to the gay porn industry, sources tell Advocate.com. Adult film actor Darren James, who had tested negative for HIV infection as recently as March 17, was found on Monday to be HIV-positive. Actress Lara Roxx, who worked with James on one film, also has tested positive. A spokesman at Adult Video News told Advocate.com that because of safer-sex practices and condom usage in gay adult videos, the HIV scare that has cropped up in the straight side of the business doesn't affect gay performers or gay production companies. Legendary gay porn director Chi Chi LaRue told Advocate.com that because of the stringent safer-sex policies at the vast majority of gay adult film companies, including her own, there is little worry that HIV is being spread on gay porn sets. "We should hold our heads high and keep going--business as usual," she said. LaRue also said that the current HIV scare in the straight adult film industry further reinforces her belief that the men in those films should be required to use condoms just as gay performers do. "The straight industry needs to wake up," she said. "This is a huge, huge bullet, and they haven't dodged it. Actually, it hit them square in the heart. They need to wake up and start putting a condom on every dick. These girls need to stop working with companies that don't want to use condoms." The Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation (AIM), an organization launched five years ago by former porn star Sharon Mitchell, works to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in the straight adult film industry by encouraging actors and actresses to be regularly screened for infections and tracking the performers through an STD database. AIM on Monday called for a moratorium on straight porn shoots until all of the actors possibly exposed to HIV have been screened. The HIV scare extends to dozens of performers who've been placed on a voluntary quarantine list until it is confirmed that they haven't been infected, according to Adult Video News. James reportedly had sex with 14 porn actresses since his last negative HIV test, and they all have been placed on the quarantine list as well as nearly three dozen actors and actresses who subsequently had sex with those 14 women. Roxx, whose scene with James involved simultaneous anal intercourse with two men--neither of whom wore condoms--has had sex with three other male actors since her scene with James. About a dozen adult film companies have halted production for 60 days until HIV testing is completed. "Most of the people I have talked to are cooperating [with the quarantine]. There are a few people that won't. But if I find out there is talent working, I won't ever hire them again," Jill Kelly, founder of Jill Kelly Productions, told the Los Angeles Times. "In the porn community itself, HIV is pretty much taken care of in the sense that we make sure everyone is tested." Some adult film industry sources report that James was infected with HIV while in Brazil, and there are rumors that he had been engaging in sex with other men--rumors that infuriate LaRue. "I heard something about that he must have been having gay sex," LaRue told Advocate.com. "My hair is going to burn off my head, I'm so angry! AIDS is not a gay disease, so stop that line of talk right now. Stop trying to shift the blame and stop trying to skirt the issue. The issue is that you need to protect yourself."