Massage Therapists Angry Over Proposal to Test for Sexual Diseases

Massage practitioners are outraged over a proposal that would require them to pass screenings for four sexually transmitted diseases if they want to work in Fountain Valley.

Hoping to weed out prostitutes who pose as legitimate massage technicians, the City Council will consider next month whether to require therapists to be tested for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis A, B and C as well as tuberculosis. The purpose, officials say, is to screen out prostitutes--who commonly carry the pathogens and sometimes pose as massage technicians.

“These are sexually transmitted diseases; I don’t have sex with my clients,” said Mark W. Dixon, a Fountain Valley massage practitioner. “I feel like my rights are being infringed on.”

The proposal marks a further escalation in efforts by Orange County cities to crack down on prostitutes.

Houston LeBrun, president of the American Massage Therapists Assn. in Seattle, said she is unaware of any other city in the nation that has gone as far as the Fountain Valley proposal. And attorney Myron Dean Quon of the Lamda Legal Defense and Education Fund in Los Angeles called it “an infringement on their right to privacy and civil liberties.”

The City Council originally planned to consider the new rules Tuesday along with other massage regulations that call for enhanced education, testing requirements and limited hours of operation that are similar to laws in other Orange County cities. But Mayor Laurann Cook decided Friday to postpone the portion dealing with diseases to June 16 so officials will have time to research the issue further.

“I think the proposed amendment to the ordinance, with the exception of the sexually transmitted disease section, is a good amendment, and I’m very supportive of it,” she said. “We want to protect our citizens and our community, and that’s the reason. We also want to make sure we have a legal amendment.”

The purpose is to keep up with other cities so that savvy prostitutes cannot beat Fountain Valley’s regulations, City Atty. Alan R. Burns said. “As other cities tighten their ordinances, we have to be in sync. We don’t want to be the weak link because that’s where they go to.”