Is it ever justified to not hire (or fire) someone for having previously worked in porn?

This often happens in Hollywood, where studios will resist casting someone because they used to work in adult films, or posed for a raunchy/explicit photo set; and there have been numerous stories about teachers who are fired because it's discovered that once upon a time they posed nude. Do you think that this is ever justified?

No it isn't justified. I could see an active porn actor, hooker or someone with a current nude pictorial not being hired to teach kids. But a persons past is just that. The past. This is one of the reasons we can't even get decent politicians. People who would would be perfect for the job are afraid to run because of something they did 20 or 30 years ago. Holding someones past against them is just judgmental jackassery.

This goes back to the censorship question. OK, movies are a business that depends on the public accepting an actor. I am as guilty as anyone on this. No matter how good Mel Gibson does as an actor in a movie, I am tainted by the fact that he is an ignorant asshole and his presence on screen turns me off.

However, my sensitivities are not offended by porn, so Vanessa Williams gets a pass from me. In fact I like her because of those beautifully shot erotic fotos. She should not have lost her Miss America crown over that but hey, who needed it?

I have posted porn pics of myself online, so conceivably I could be discovered and maybe they will try to fire me (but I might invest in a lawyer and fight it and they know that). My pics of sucking and being sucked have nothing to do with my ability to crank out documents on my computer at work. Same for teachers. If they are in adult venue then the kids legally would not know (However, you know kids. My 15-year-old cyberfriend in South Africa found my Shale Website with a simple search procedure.)

Teachers have always been held to too high a standard and it will likely end as the profession is becoming shit. My daughter was one of the first public school teachers laid off in this recession - but the ones remaining in this bankrupt state are about to take pay cuts and staffing cuts which will mean more students in class to teach some silly test method too, without the reward of actually teaching them. Who would want to work in that kind of depravity? It would be better to pole dance in a club on the Boulevard.

I don't think it is justified. Pornography has been legal for many years now and people in that industry do their best to take all safety and legal precautions. If a former porn actor leaves the industry and gets training or education for other professions, their past jobs in the porn industry shouldn't matter at all.

I agree with CeCe saying that the past is the past. Why does it matter?

It's not justified. I mean... if Charlie Sheen can still get work...

^^At least some porn actresses can find work by dating him.

If I had small children and hired someone as a nanny, I would have an issue with discovering she had a past in porn. I don't know that I wouldn't fire such a person.