The gay porn industry has seen a spike in the number of barebacking films, in which the performers have condomless sex. It has also, like the straight porn industry, seen a connected rise in HIV infections. A recent anonymous survey of gay performers by the industry site TheSword.com found that 30 percent of respondents were either HIV positive or unaware of their status.
This, coupled with the general surge in infections among all men who have sex with men—especially in men under 30, who constitute the bulk of gay porn actors—has gay porn titan Chi Chi LaRue in a tizzy. LaRue (a.k.a. Larry David Paciotti) has starred in and/or directed some 200 films (from Valley of the Bi Dolls to Receiving End) and has just unveiled her latest achievement, Wrap It Up. The public service announcement demands that gay performers use condoms—and that customers boycott films that feature barebacking. (View it at safesexishotsex.com.) While many straight porn companies don’t mandate condoms, the straight industry does at least require regular testing for performers, whose results are tracked on a sort of medical business card.
The gay porn industry requires neither testing nor condoms, and LaRue’s PSA explores the films’ fantasy pull on viewers who want the vicarious thrill of unprotected sex without personally risking HIV infection—or, if already positive, infecting others. “After all the gay community has been through, why are we putting [performers] at risk for [the sake of] porn?” asks LaRue, in mountainous fright wig and mascara, as Wrap It Up opens. “These boys are real. Is it worth watching models risk their health for your fantasy?”
