Porn Valley- Wicked Pictures’ Joy King and Adultfyi.com’s Gene Ross were on the Jason Sechrest show Young & The Curious, www.ksexradio.com, Friday night to discuss the industry’s current HIV situation. Sechrest, www.jasoncurious.com takes the stand that there should be no industry moratorium and that performers continue to work with condoms.

At the beginning of the show Sechrest told his listeners that he had just returned from Florida to the news that male porn performer Darren James had tested positive for HIV.

“I don’t think I was the only one stupidly naive enough to be shocked,” Sechrest said.

“It should be a wake-up call to a lot of us in the industry- straight and gay,” Sechrest added. “I think it’s safe to say that a lot of straight men go through life thinking they’re immune to the HIV virus and that it’s strictly gay disease. Even if they don’t really believe that and they know it’s not true they sort of live life as though it is true. In fact there’s so much information out there. There’s so much that’s been circulated that’s not true. There’s a ridiculous amount of he said-she said crazy shit out there.”

Sechrest referred to a book titled The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS.

“It’s insane there are people out there who think this cannot happen to anyone unless they’re gay. It’s crazy.”

But Sechrest was willing to concede that gay people were just as bad.

“There are people I know- myself included- I’ve been in this group of people at one time or another- who are under the impression that tops don’t get it, that if you’re a top and not a bottom, you’re fine. If I guy can get it from banging a chick, we can get it from banging somebody’s ass. We definitely can.”

Sechrest went on to report that it was suspected that James contracted the virus while working with a female performer on a TT Boy project in Brazil.

“Using words like quarantine to me is almost as bad as calling somebody who’sHIV positive, dirty.” Sechrest then took AVN and its owner Paul Fishbein to task for saying that at-risk performers should be looking at their bodies as “deadly weapons.”

“This is not 1988 for one thing,” Sechrest said. “We’ve progressed past that point.”

Sechrest then read off his manifesto which has been appearing on a number of adult sites including his own particularly stressing the point that if he were James, Sechrest would be “slashing his ankles” over the way the media has “over reacted.”

Sechrest also stated that at least 50% of the performers on the gay side are infected with HIV. “Do we stop them from working? No. Do we splash it all over the media and all over every home page? We don’t. We slap a condom on them, we say love you anyway and get back to work.” Sechrest said he’s heard comments from journalists in the straight porn world that this should open up the eyes of gay porn companies to start requiring tests on every set.

Sechrest: “That’s bullshit. I say absolutely not. That should be a lesson to straight porn performers to require condoms if they’re so goddamned concerned about their health. It’s true that most gay porn studios don’t require testing. But what they do require is a condom. You tell me what’s safer? Having sex with condom or having sex with someone who shows you a test that’s at least less than 30 days old. Which one is safer?”

Sechrest also chided a a comment in a story written by AVN’s Scott Ross that “until these people pass a PCR-DNA and RNA test 60- days after they’ve had sex with him [James], if none of the women are HIV positive by June 8th, then they and the entire adult industry will be deemed clear of the virus.”

Sechrest: Has this not ben enough of a scare for them to comprehend, that no one will ever be deemed clear of the virus unless you wear a condom every time you hve sex? Performers are always going to have sex with people outside of our industry for recreation. And we will never know whether or not they’ve used a condom. A 30-day test limit does not give anyone any sort of guarantee. And AVN reporting such a thing is reprehensibly false to me.”

Sechrest also reported that Titan Media released a statement about how they wouldn’t be hiring any gay sex talent to perform without condoms. Sechrest called the company’s “an inappropriate cry for publicity” because it’s been the stance of many gay companies as it is. Sechrest also referenced a report he saw on Barbara Walters where it was not actually proven 100% that HIV is the cause of AIDS. “It’s the most probable cause of AIDs but CNN reports this week that it is. The amount of misinformation out there is absolutely astounding. Educate yourself, make a decision and then be fone with the consequences. But don’t point fingers at other people when something happens to you.”

Sechrest then fielded a call from Michael Brandon who’s won gay performer of the year back-to-back. Brandon wondered aloud what a 60-day moratorium was going to do.

Brandon: What do us and porn stars do? We have sex. We’re hookers, we’re hustlers, we’re gay-for-pay; we’re straight-for-pay. That’s what we do- on the set, off the set. Especially off the set. You can’t tell me when someone’s off the set, they go the straight and narrow.

Sechrest: You can’t kep it in a circle.

Brandon: Exactly. You get a test last week. But within 72 hours you’ve stuck it in somewhere else and you’ve operned yourself up to the risk all over again. I don’t understand what bthe rhyme or reason is.

Sechrest noted that Brandon did a movie recently for Raging Stallion where he comes in someone’s mouth. “It’s very common in straight porn but it’s sort of unheard of on the gay side of the industry,” Sechrest pointed out noting that Brandon has stated in the past that it’s the person’s responsibility who’s taking the cum in their mouth to find out whether the partner has been tested. “It’s the person being penetrated’s responsibility.”

On the other hand, Brandon was applaudng the straight industry for their vigorousness. “But I think it’s a little bit of overkill.” Sechrest said it’s delusional to think that 60 days from now everything will be fine and that this will never happen again. “Or even 24 hours after you get the test that everything’s going to be okay,” Brandon added who claims that he has sex at least two or three times a day.

Of all the people in porn, Sechrest said he was inclined towards having King on the show because her opinion had yet to be heard from and that she could offer a female’s perspective. King felt that the mainstream had a lot to learn from the gay community. Sechrest wanted to get clarification on Wicked’s condom policy.

King: We have been condom mandatory since this happened five years ago. We were one of the few companies to make that decision to do that and stuck with it over the five years.

King was under the impression that avn.com first broke the story but Ross who later came on the show explained that adultfyi.com began posting about it the night before the story officially broke. nevertheless King said she first read the story on avn.com. “I’m a little far removed from some of the stuff that goes on.” King said she felt shock and disappointment that this was happening. “Now what are we going to do about it?”

Asked if she could foresee that there’s be a call for a shutdown, King though there was a lot of different ways to look at it. “We’re a condom-only company and we have been for a long time,” she said. “It was hard for us to make the decision not to shoot for a little while.” King said Wicked made the decision “out of respect” for the performers more than anything else. “This is a very emotional time for them. This is a difficult situation for them. We respect them. We want them to be okay. We’re concerned about their health and well-being.”

Sechrest said he almost wished that Vivid would have held to their original policy about not shutting down. “There’s no reason for us to shut down. If you’re wearing a condom and it’s a condom-only company then you’re safe.”

King said Wicked’s taken “a lot of shit from people” for the five years they’ve held to their policy. “We’ve lost revenue because of it. People don’t want to buy our products because we use condoms. Shame on us. We’re ruining the famtasy. No, we’re protecting the performer.” King didn’t expect the industry to shut down.

“It certainly didn’t last time. Because you have a lot of renegades. But I also didn’t expect the mainstream media coverage that we’ve had.” King said she was very depressed when she first heard the news. “I think this has been very difficult, emotionally, for everybody.” King was of the view that mainstream has treated the story moe as a business piece than a sensationalized “oh those porn freaks- it’s been refreshing.”

Asked if she thought things could go back the way they were, King said she can only use the past to reflect on.

King: “What we saw last time was there’s a huge group of adult companies- the big boys- we’re going to band together, condoms-only…yeah! And at the end of the day, who’s there? Us. Wicked Pictures and you can say Vivid but Vivid does have some stuff without condoms. They’re probably going to be mad at me if I say that but if you look at what they have, not everything is condom. I know Steve Hirsch will be angry at me. Eespecially his last movie. Not everything is that way.”

King said she could be wrong but it appears that Wicked’s the only company adhering to condom-only the policy.

King: “Our performers are important to us. We took a stand and we’re not going to back down from that. Just because people were saying European rights demands no condoms. Hey, this segment gonzo-this, that. You got to cave. What are you guys doing? You’re losing sales. We made a stand and we’re sticking with it. And kudos to Vivid for the most part for doing the same thing and shame on everyone else who stood up that day and said, yes, we’re going condoms-only. And all of a sudden, I’m caving.”

Sechrest said five years ago he was just getting into the business with Danni’s Hard Drive and unaware. “Hate her,” said Sechrest. “I didn’t know anything about any of the actual hardcore stuff that was going on at the time.”

Jason asked King about some of the companies that took similar condom-only stances at the time. King mentioned Video Team, VCA. “We’re not talking about small companies.” There was also Zane.

King: Every time someone went down it was, oh, just this line is going to be no-condom. Come one.

Sechrest felt it was not an issue for companies to make, rather performers. “It’s like in real life where it’s a decision for the performer to make and decide whether they want to do it. But take responsibility for what’s happened.”

Quoting Wicked’s Steve Orenstein, King said it would kill him to think that something like this would occur on his set. ‘I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night and I need to sleep at night.’

King said she’s met neither Darren James or Lara Roxx and that her heart goes out to both performers. Sechrest felt the same way and that it was very important for the industry to support them instead of pointing fingers.

Jason then introduced me as a journalist that has been in porn since dinosaurs ruled the earth. Jason asked me what my initial reaction was to the news about James.

Gene: This is something you always have to expect. It’s just what day is it going to be announced or reported. It’s not shocking and it’s going to happen again. It may happen again next week. It may happen again next month. In the history of our business one of the first stories I ever ran for AVN was the death of John Holmes. I reported on that and every few years there’s been a cycle of new HIV stories. This is not shocking.

I explained to Jason that Monday night [April 12] adultfyi.com got a phone call telling us that there was a porn performer who tested HIV positive, that his name was Darren Edwards. “I couldn’t swear on my life that Darren Edwards was Darren James,” I said. I made a number of phone calls that evening and talked to different directors who told me that it was Darren James.

“But one thing I learned in the business is to adhere to the doubting Thomas prinicple that if you don’t it with your own eyes, you don’t believe it,” I explained to Jason.

Ross: “Monday night I went on the adultfyi.com website that there was a male performer who tested HIV positive. I make a phone call to Sharon Mitchell that evening asking for verification; I didn’t hear back from her. I don’t go with anything unless I hear it from the horse’s mouth or unless I see it personally. I had to sit tight Tuesday and it was gnashing me teeth waiting for a confirmation call. I would have to say that basically avn and adulrfyi.com had the story down at the wire. It was almost up simultaneously.”

I also explained that I was the first to contact Lara Roxx that timing being what it was, Roxx was hardly forthcoming in the matter and demanded money to tell her story. I also explained that as late as Wednesday, the day before it was revealed that Roxx had tested positive, she was soliciting work.

Jason said that he heard Roxx had performed a double-anal scene with James. If that’s the case, will there be a second male performer to emerge HIV positive?

[Mark Anthony was subsequently identified as this performer and summarily placed on the irst generation quarantine list. Meanwhile, Mya Mason, Summer Lee, Sin Starr and an unknown sex worker who had worked with Tyler Knight after he had sex with Lara Roxx have been added to the second-generation B list. ]

Jason and I then talked about the subsequent history of HIV in the industry. I noted the first big industry outcry was when Jonathan Morgan got substantially involved, working with a female performer who tested positive then disappeared from the business literally the following day. “This involved a girl who came into the business, did one sex scene and disappeared. There was a question as to whether her test was accurate from the get-go or did she have a false positive.

“Apparently she then got tested by her family doctor but the industry wasn’t willing to accept the second test which showed that she was HIV negative.” It was noted that besides Morgan, five other performers were put on quarantine for six months.

“Jonathan Morgan used to be talent?” Jason asked incredulously. “Whoever let that man get naked?” Noting that I had run AVN one time, Jason asked how I reacted to the “industry will be deemed clear” quote. My reply was that the weighty pronouncement of it all was such to prompt genuflection.

“Who died and left them in charge?” I asked. King said she would concur with that statement. “This is an industry where it’s up to each individual company to make their moral and business choices.” King said it was a very harsh statement for a company like Wicked to accept when they had been condom-only for five years. “I said, excuse me? Don’t judge. That was very disheartening.”

My suggestion is that AVN should put their money where their mouth is and give every company who adheres to the 60-day moratorium, two months worth of free advertising.

“Absolutely,” said Jason. “There you go.” King said she talked to Jenna Jameson earlier in the day and congratulated her for putting her money where her mouth was. “I want to support these performers,” said King. “And not just these performers. How about crew people? Check-to-check. It is very harsh.”

Jason suggested that Paul Fishbein do the same thing as Jameson. “Let’s hope that he’ll contribute,” King agreed.

Talking about harsh circumstances, I told Jason how Tony Montana went to AVN to get sponsorship for an AIDS marathon he was running and was turned down. I also addressed the question if I thought the straight side of the business was educated enough.

“I don’t think so,” I replied. “Because to be educated you have to assume a certain amount of self-control. I think you’re dealing with a lot of people who haven’t reached the maturity level to assume or understand what that’s about. Until we raise the age limit on performers- I would have to agree with anyone on this. You’ve got to be 21.” King was in agreement. “I’ve been saying that for years,” she said.

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