Press Release from Hot Desert Knights, Inc.

[hdkbill]

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From: Hot Desert Knights, Inc.

Date: February 7, 2008

Subject: HDK Begins HIV Testing of All Models

Last Vegas, NV: Hot Desert Knights, Inc. (HDK), the leading gay bareback production studio, announced today that effective immediately all HDK models will be tested for HIV and other STD’s. All testing will be conducted through the auspices of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM).

Dr. Sharon Mitchell, Executive Director, of AIM said, “Myself and the AIM Healthcare Foundation are extremely proud of HDK and Mr. Bill Gardner for taking this ground breaking step in the area of HIV, STD prevention education and screening. AIM is enthusiastic about this relationship and are available in all 50 States. AIM has been providing the Adult Industry HIV and STD screening, medications and counseling for over a decade, and are delighted to be serving the Gay Industry in Body, Mind, Emotion and Spirit”.

According to Bill Gardner, president of HDK, “We are alarmed and shocked at the proliferation of new bareback studios, especially those from overseas, who are using increasingly younger models without providing any counseling or information regarding STD transmission to these models. It appears as if these studios care little for the health and safety of their models”. Gardner went on to say that, “After a number of discussions with Diane Duke, Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), regarding this trend of using younger models and taking more risks in bareback films, Ms. Duke introduced us to the Ex. Dir. Of AIM, Dr. Sharon Mitchell. As a result of these meetings with Dr. Mitchell and Ms. Duke, HDK concluded that it is possible to test models and provide a safer workplace while still maintaining our models privacy rights”.

In a statement from by Diane Duke of the Free Speech Coalition, “FSC's role is not a regulatory one, but rather one that provides information and resources to assist adult businesses to make responsible decisions for themselves, the industry and industry professionals. We applaud Bill and HDK's willingness to participate in this discussion and to implement policies and practices that protect performers at Hot Desert Knights. We hope to facilitate similar discussions within and among other adult entertainment businesses”.

In addition to HIV, Hot Desert Knights will also be testing for Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Hepatitis A, B&C. HDK will then sero-sort accordingly.

Gardner concluded by saying, “We are happy to take the lead as the first bareback studio to provide testing and know that by doing so we are providing an environment of safer sex for all of our talent. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, other than HIV, can cause serious health problems for the talent in our industry and many STD’s can be acquired by the various sex acts performed in front of the camera other than anal sex”. “For that reason, we urge all gay studios to consider testing all models for STD’s if they truly wish to provide a safer sex work environment”, stated Gardner.

For more information please feel free to contact Bill Gardner at 760 416-1070or 800 300-2002.

[IdolKnights]

Congrats and will be interesting to see how other BB studios react.

Best of luck Bill.

[hdkbill]

Congrats and will be interesting to see how other BB studios react.

Best of luck Bill.

Idol,

Thanks.

We are as interested as much by how other BB studios react as we are about how the condom studios react. Anal sex and condom use does help to prevent many STD's, but other acts such as rimming, fisting, etc., without protection carry the risk of transmitting other STD's, some of which can be fatal especially in guys who are also HIV+. It is our hope that ALL gay studios begin testing and sero-sorting to ensure the health and safety of all models.

Testing can now be done quickly and cheaply in all 50 states. Their is simply no excuse not to do it and guarantee, as much as possible the health and safety of all models on EVERY set.

Bill

Bill

[hdkbill]

Hot Desert Knights Will Require Models to Test for HIV/STDs

The oldest, most established U.S. bareback company makes an agreement with Adult Industry Medical Healthcare to test all models for HIV/STDs.

By Joanne Cachapero
Thursday, Feb 7, 2008

LAS VEGAS — Gay noncondom production company Hot Desert Knights (HDK) has announced that, effective immediately, the company will require HIV/STD testing from all of its performers through the auspices of Adult Industry Medical Healthcare (AIM).
Until recently, the majority of gay adult production companies have not required HIV/STD testing.

Condom-only studios address the situation by adopting a safe sex practice while performers are on the set, ostensibly eliminating the need for testing or the disclosure of a model’s HIV status.

Bareback companies have operated by a system of sero-sorting — pairing positive-with-positive or negative-with-negative performers, with the majority of these studios requiring the model to declare his status as opposed to providing documentation of current HIV/STD test results.

By contrast, HDK’s new policy is groundbreaking.

“It’s a decision that we felt we had to come up with, and we think it’s an important one,” HDK founder Bill Gardner told XBIZ. “It’s something that we talked about for a long time — and we thought this was the best way to do it.

“We’re a bareback company, yet we made the decision that we’re going to test our models and sero-sort, and we’ll only put models together that are aware of their condition and that we are aware of the particular health conditions and the risk of any type of infection,” Gardner added. “We think that’s the responsible thing to do, if you’re going to make bareback films. I think the responsible thing for the entire gay industry to do is to test and to not ever discriminate against a model because of his status.”

According to Gardner, the decision was influenced by several factors including the proliferation of bareback studios, especially those based outside the U.S., where HIV/STD education and resources are limited.

“We are alarmed and shocked at the proliferation of new bareback studios,” Gardner said. “Especially those from overseas, who are using increasingly younger models without providing any counseling or information regarding STD transmission to these models. It appears as if these studios care little for the health and safety of their models.”

The action from HDK was inspired also by a collaboration with industry trade association Free Speech Coalition (FSC) Executive Director Diane Duke who had approached Gardner to discuss the development of HIV/STD testing protocol for the gay adult industry.

“I talked to several gay companies about many different issues, but this is one that definitely comes up a lot,” Duke told XBIZ. “We’ve listened to the issues and talked frankly about what we, as industry, can do to come together, to make sure that we are providing best practices and good business practices, to make sure that we have a healthy industry.”

Duke emphasized that the role of the FSC is not a regulatory one, “but rather one that provides information and resources to assist adult businesses to make responsible decisions for themselves, the industry and industry professionals. We applaud Bill and HDK's willingness to participate in this discussion and to implement policies and practices that protect performers at Hot Desert Knights. We hope to facilitate similar discussions within and among other adult entertainment businesses.”

Duke was responsible for putting Gardner in touch with AIM and its founder, Dr. Sharon Mitchell. The nonprofit developed the testing protocol for the heterosexual side of the adult industry, which requires active performers to test monthly and manages the distribution of medical information to various producers, as to a performer’s HIV/STD status. The organization was started after an HIV/AIDS outbreak in 1998, when several performers contracted the virus, apparently from on-set sexual contact.

“Myself and the AIM Healthcare Foundation are extremely proud of HDK and Mr. Bill Gardner for taking this ground breaking step in the area of HIV/STD prevention education and screening,” Mitchell said.

“AIM is enthusiastic about this relationship and is available in all fifty States,” she added. “AIM has been providing the adult industry HIV/STD screening, medications and counseling for over a decade, and are delighted to be serving the gay industry in body, mind, emotion and spirit.”

Gardner has stated that he will require a full panel test for STDs including HIV/AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia and hepatitis A, B and C. The company is in the process of changing paperwork so that models must agree to be tested by AIM, either at one of the clinic locations in Los Angeles or through contracted clinics that are located throughout the country.

The testing protocol will also vary from the established procedure at AIM in terms of disclosure of information. Heterosexual performers are disallowed from performing if they become HIV-positive, whereas a gay performer’s career is not necessarily ended due to a positive diagnosis.

This difference is the cause for sensitivity issues around the process of disclosing medical information.

Gardner has worked with AIM to guarantee that any performer tested to work for HDK will be assured that his medical information is shared only with the studio and models that will be performing in a scene together.

However, if more gay studios decide to implement a system of STD testing in the future, Gardner said, it is possible that a network of studios might be formed that would share performers’ medical information.

“We are happy to take the lead as the first bareback studio to provide testing and know that by doing so we are providing an environment of safer sex for all of our talent,” Gardner said.

“Sexually transmitted diseases, other than HIV, can cause serious health problems for the talent in our industry and many STDs can be acquired by the various sex acts performed in front of the camera other than anal sex,” he added. “For that reason, we urge all gay studios to consider testing all models for STDs if they truly wish to provide a safer sex work environment.”

All Boys Distribution owner Rob Ragan, who distributes HDK exclusively in the U.S., commented on difficult issues that face gay industry, and the division between condom-only and bareback studios, and said, “I think it's both admirable, as well as sad, that Bill and Hot Desert Knights have to go this far, from a public standpoint, to prove that they care about their models as much as they do. It's always bothered me that Bill is the easy target for advocators of condom use in film because he's the most well known.

“Good for Bill and HDK for standing up and putting their money where their mouth is,” Ragan added. “Now hopefully people will start worrying more about the outside threats to us all rather than bicker amongst themselves.”

[TropixxxStudios]

Bill,

I am very happy with your decision. I have been a fan of AIM for a long time, and it is great to see you working with them. It is my hope that your action will encourage other studios, bareback or otherwise, to follow the leader.

It would be amazing if us, the gay side of things, could form a collation of studios that could cooperate and form some sort of industry standard for testing. We are now one small step closer.

Thanks.

- Michael

[gaybucks_chip]

This is a great step. I never understood why the bareback studios in particular were all silent or offered bogus excuses ("There's no one in the area that can test our models") as to why testing was impractical, and I find it particularly interesting how many studios including HDK managed to dodge the question, when directly asked about testing, without answering it, even as recently as a couple of weeks ago. But it's good that there's no longer a need to dodge the question.

The next step is to get ALL producers, including the safer sex producers, to start testing. Not only is this the only wise choice for studios, it's an excellent step in terms of education for models and improvement of safety for the gay population as a whole.

[LavenderLounge]

Thank you for taking this step.

Ideally, I would prefer to see all models use condoms until the day we can say with confidence that the plague is over, but that's asking for alot.

This small step will hopefully bring us closer to a common sense approach in the meantime.

Other studios shooting condomless or considering it, please read this:

http://www.sisterzsazsa.com/epistle1.html

[BoyDollars]

I don't mean to sounds disturbed by the "congrats". But, shouldn't we say "it's about time". In my opinion Hot Desert Knights is definitely a leader in the industry. I thought they would have been testing years ago.

I'm certainly not trying to slam HDK. I have met Bill and respect his company. I'm just a little shocked.

I guess I can say..... Better late than never.........

[hdkbill]

Bill,

I am very happy with your decision. I have been a fan of AIM for a long time, and it is great to see you working with them. It is my hope that your action will encourage other studios, bareback or otherwise, to follow the leader.

It would be amazing if us, the gay side of things, could form a collation of studios that could cooperate and form some sort of industry standard for testing. We are now one small step closer.

Thanks.

- Michael

Michael,

It is also my hope that the entire gay industry begins to start testing models. Their are, as you know, many "bugs" out there other than HIV that gay men need to be concerned with. Using condoms when performing anal sex does not protect against other activities that take place in front of the camera.

Yes, it would be amazing and a great thing. If we all truly beleive in protecting the healthy and safety of our talent, it is a no brainer.

Bill

[hdkbill]

This is a great step. I never understood why the bareback studios in particular were all silent or offered bogus excuses ("There's no one in the area that can test our models") as to why testing was impractical, and I find it particularly interesting how many studios including HDK managed to dodge the question, when directly asked about testing, without answering it, even as recently as a couple of weeks ago. But it's good that there's no longer a need to dodge the question.

The next step is to get ALL producers, including the safer sex producers, to start testing. Not only is this the only wise choice for studios, it's an excellent step in terms of education for models and improvement of safety for the gay population as a whole.

Chip,

When you asked that question a couple of weeks ago I responded by saying that before answering the question, I would like to know how many condom studio conducted testing. The last time I looked at that thread you were the only one who had responded.

I responded the way I did for two reasons. First, I felt it was important to see how many condom companies, especially those most vocal against bareback companies, responded. The silence was deafening.

Secondly, we were right in the middle of talks with AIM and the FSC and talking with other companies about this issue. I was not in a position to discuss the issue of what HDK did at that time.

You and your company are to be commended for the testing you do. And, yes, it is time for ALL gay companies begin testing and make it the industry standard.

Bill

[hdkbill]

I don't mean to sounds disturbed by the "congrats". But, shouldn't we say "it's about time". In my opinion Hot Desert Knights is definitely a leader in the industry. I thought they would have been testing years ago.

I'm certainly not trying to slam HDK. I have met Bill and respect his company. I'm just a little shocked.

I guess I can say..... Better late than never.........

Hi David,

Appreciate you comment. Up until really very recently, getting testing completed and back in an accurate and timely manner was not really possible the way we film.

The issue of testing is one that we have wrestled with for a number of years and have looked in to how to do with what we considered to be a reasonable degree of accuracy. That now exists with some of the new testing methods where results can be almost immediate for certain types of STD's.

We have said many times, and I'm somewhat surprised that no one seems to remember, that testing as recently as a year or two ago had the possibility of creating a false sense of security with the models. As recently as this week, a PSA was released by a well known studio making reference to that issue. We don't agree with that PSA in terms of the delay in obtaining testing results still creating a false sense of security. There is no such thing as safe sex, unless, of course you are having sex where both you and your partner are wearing a baggie from head to to or you are wanking off yourself. The best we can hope to ever achieve is safer sex. We believe that we can now offer that to our models.

The more important question here is the one that has not been addressed until really today. That is, what about all of the other STD's which can and are transmitted while filming that the wearing of a condom during anal sex does not prevent, which in the case of a model who is HIV+, can be life threatenting.

All I can say is that HDK has always cared about our models and always will and that we have always done what we believe the best we can do during the time frame involved.

Bill

[DEVELISH]

Hi Bill,

I never said much or anything at all in the various BareBack-Treads here but...

...You made a very good decision by HIV-testing your models

I also do hope other studios will rethink and test their talents

DEV

[BoyDollars]

Hi David,

Appreciate you comment. Up until really very recently, getting testing completed and back in an accurate and timely manner was not really possible the way we film.

The issue of testing is one that we have wrestled with for a number of years and have looked in to how to do with what we considered to be a reasonable degree of accuracy. That now exists with some of the new testing methods where results can be almost immediate for certain types of STD's.

We have said many times, and I'm somewhat surprised that no one seems to remember, that testing as recently as a year or two ago had the possibility of creating a false sense of security with the models. As recently as this week, a PSA was released by a well known studio making reference to that issue. We don't agree with that PSA in terms of the delay in obtaining testing results still creating a false sense of security. There is no such thing as safe sex, unless, of course you are having sex where both you and your partner are wearing a baggie from head to to or you are wanking off yourself. The best we can hope to ever achieve is safer sex. We believe that we can now offer that to our models.

The more important question here is the one that has not been addressed until really today. That is, what about all of the other STD's which can and are transmitted while filming that the wearing of a condom during anal sex does not prevent, which in the case of a model who is HIV+, can be life threatenting.

All I can say is that HDK has always cared about our models and always will and that we have always done what we believe the best we can do during the time frame involved.

Bill

Bill,
I appreciate your response. I'm glad to see you are now testing. Definitely a step in the right direction! I just assumed that it was already being done. I hope you and your company set an example for other companies that are not testing.. I to am aware of the other STD's. I mentioned it in my last post on this article: "Would you have sex with a guy who told you he was HIV Positive?". Ironically nobody said anything about it. This is only one of the many nasty STD's out there....

here is the info i posted:
Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with HPV. At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. By age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection. About 6.2 million Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year.

Most people who have a genital HPV infection do not know they are infected. The virus lives in the skin or mucous membranes and usually causes no symptoms. Some people get visible genital warts, or have pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, vulva, anus, or penis.

You can read more here: http://www.cdc.gov/STD/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm#common

[JamesXR]

I've got to say that I'm impressed. This should have been done earlier, but I'm thrilled to see a company take the first step. I was glad to see the screening for so many other STDs. I like that Bill is laying the foundations for a regularly tested gay model network with AIM.
Perhaps someday all gay porn will be shot safely, with solo models in hermetically sealed lexan boxes jacking off, but until then, this seems like a big step forward. In any business, making big changes to the way you do things is a hard decision. It's easy to hide behind everyone else doing it. To get that momentum up and create a path for others to follow is impressive.

So yeah, massive kudos.

[IdolKnights]

David - the steps taken for change and model safety are to be commended. Even with bareback.

And you are correct in that this should have been normal practice some time ago.