Matt Sanchez
- See also Wikipedia's article about "Matt Sanchez".
Matthew Sanchez, or Matt Sanchez, (b. 1 December 1970), GS '07, was a student in the School of General Studies. After it was revealed he had an extensive background in gay pornography, Sanchez was discharged from the United States Marine Corps on the grounds of "erroneous enlistment." He is no longer permitted to claim any affiliation with the Marines.
Contents
Biography
Youth
Matt Sanchez was born and raised in San Jose, California. He attended Independence High School and was a Northern California wrestling champion.[1] He later moved to Montreal where he performed in several gay porn films, later moving to Los Angeles. He also claims to have lived in Madrid, Montreal, and Berlin, where he learned Spanish, French and German respectively.
Andy Towle, a homosexual blogger [2] has stated that he briefly dated Sanchez in 1989.
Adult film career
In the early to mid-1990s, Sanchez worked as an adult film star. First, in 1992, he used the name Pierre LaBranche while working for Kristen Bjorn. In 1994, he moved to San Francisco and the studios changed his name to the less French-sounding Rod Majors.
He starred in several gay videos for Catalina and Falcon. According to the Internet Adult Film Database and IMDB, Sanchez is credited as being in 35+ adult films as Rod Majors, in addition to a number of films as Pierre LaBranche, all of them are all-male films. [1]. Sanchez has stated that his participation in gay pornography consisted of one or two summers and participation in a total of 7 scenes, and has stated that "The porn industry is a pernicious industry, and it is bad".
Sanchez has stated in a number of interviews that he has also done heterosexual pornography.
- Signorile: You've said that you've also done straight porn, but i can't find the names of any of those films.
- Sanchez: Yes. I'm sure if you put some bloggers on it...
- Signorile: No
- Sanchez: How many gay men are into straight porn? Maybe some.
Popular conservative radio host, Kevin McCullough of Town Hall talk radio, has used Sanchez's departure from gay pornography to justify the belief that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice that can be changed and is not biological. [2] Sanchez has stated that he has never identified himself as being a gay man. He has emphasized this point stating that many of the men he has had sexual relations with, weren't gay, but were in fact married.
Gay Porn Filmography (original scenes with scene pairing)
Call of the Wild (1992) - (as Pierre LaBranche) w/ Jacques Lavoie and Sylvain Racine
Montreal Men (1992) (as Pierre LaBranche)
Idol Country (1994)
All About Last Night (1994) - w/ Grant Larson [3]
Come and Get it (1994) - w/ Mark West [4]
Man to Men (1994)- w/ Brandon Welles [5]
Taste of Leather 2 (1994) - w/ Jeff Mitchell [6]
Beat off Frenzy (1994)- solo [7]
Bi-conflict (1994) - w/ Scott Hardman (this is from the gay version of the film, Sanchez is not included in the bi-sexual and non-sexual versions) [8]
Hung Up (1994) - w/ Alec Powers [9]
Jawbreaker(1995) - w/ Daryl Brock and Scott Russell [10]
Everybody Does it (1995)- w/ Dave Turner and Cougar Cash [11]
Built Tough (1995) - w/ Brad Stone, Tony Hampton and Jeff Austin [12]
Lunch Hour 2: Sweating Grease (1994) - w/ Dallas Taylor, Tom Braddock, and Danny Kamon [13]
Man Country (1994) - w/ Anthony Gallo and Joe Spears [14]
Manticipation (1994) - w/ Rob Cryston [15]
Power Trip (1995) - w/ Scott Wilder [16]
Secret Sex 2: The Sex Radicals (1994) - w/ Zak Spears [17]
Wet Dreams (1994) - w/ Sean Diamond [18]
Woody's (1994) - w/ Roc Boyer [19]
Alleged Prostitution career
In addition to his career in porn, Matt Sanchez allegedly worked as a male prostitute. It is unclear whether or not this is true as he has previously admitted in his own Salon.com opinion article, "Others were comparing me to Jeff Gannon and claiming that I too had advertised my services as a male escort. I won't deny it, or that I acted in several adult movies 15 years ago under names like Pierre LaBranche and Rod Majors." and in an interview with Alan Colmes, but has since distanced himself from those admissions. While on the Alan Colmes radio show, Alan Colmes asked Sanchez whether he had worked as a prostitute, Sanchez responded in the affirmative. Sanchez has since clarified that his affirmative response to Colmes' questioning regarding prostitution was in response to porn, that getting paid for sex on screen was prostitution.
- Colmes: But tell us what happened? first of all a number of years ago, and how many years ago was it you did gay porn?
- Sanchez: It was 15 years ago, and it just wasn't gay porn, by the way, uh, but it was 15 years ago.
- Colmes: What else did it ... what else was it?
- Sanchez: It was more than that, it was, but it was more than porn.
- Colmes: Did you work as a male prostitute?
- Sanchez: That as well, yeah.
- Colmes: A male prostitute.
- Sanchez: This was one of the worst periods in my life.
He is alleged to have worked in 4 major US cities, charging $400-$550 per session. In an article for Salon.com, he wrote, "Others were comparing me to Jeff Gannon and claiming that I too had advertised my services as a male escort. I won't deny it."[20] Sanchez has called this last statement a weak attempt by gay activists to smear him.
Gay Bloggers have stated that Sanchez regularly advertised his escorting services in New York's weekly gay publications and via the Internet, under the pseudonym "Excellent Top.[21]" The cached internet link to Sanchez's archived escort web page has recently been changed by the page owner to prevent the archived material from being viewable. Sanchez has stated that he does not own nor does he have any knowledge of the "Excellent Top" male escort webpage.
Sanchez has told interviewers that has been out of the business for 15 years (referring to gay porn). On the Alan Colmes radio show, Colmes confronted Sanchez with evidence that he had been advertising his services in New York Blade (a gay newspaper) as recently as November 2004. When asked about a phone number that allegedly advertised escort services as recently as four years ago in the New York Blade, Matthew responded, "Anything I'll admit, I'll own up to it". Further evidence of Sanchez's career recently surfaced, with an anonymous review of an escort named 'Mateo' (and alias Sanchez has used in the past) appeared on the Daddy's Reviews website[22]. Sanchez has denied ever placing ads in the Blade or any other gay interest magazine, instead claiming that there have been a number of instances of people pretending to be him. Referencing a Masseur Finder ad featuring Sanchez's photo, Sanchez states "I've seen that, I've been getting calls in the past couple of weeks on that and I am not running that ad". He again alleges, recounting, "I was in Australia one time, I saw someone advertising using my picture".
On Wikipedia.com, user BlueMarine, who has identified himself as Sanchez (Sanchez has not identified himself as BlueMarine), has stated "I have never "admitted" to being an escort", contradicting Sanchez's article that he wrote for Salon. He claims that his intention in the Colmes interview, while answering in the affirmative to claims of his being a male prostitute were in reference to gay pornography, an industry he says he felt was prostitution.
In the interview with Colmes, Colmes refers to Sanchez as a hustler of gay men, in reference to his activities as a masseur and as a prostitute. Sanchez clarifies stating that his clients did not all consider themselves gay, were not openly gay, were married, and part of his clientèle was women, "there were definitely tons of women". In the same conversation, Sanchez admits to having advertised his services in gay publications.
- Colmes: You took ads in gay publications...
- Sanchez: As well, as well as other publications.
In a subsequent interview, Colmes later stated that the original number advertised did not belong to Matt Sanchez and said "I don't know where it came from."
Other activities before coming to Columbia
In the late 1990s, Sanchez left the porn industry, and moved to Berlin for a year. He learned German and allegedly worked at Time Out Berlin (either a magazine or a travel guide).
Military Career
According to the Military Times, Sanchez joined the Marine Corps on May 14, 2003 at the age of 32, and is a refrigeration mechanic. He is currently on Individual Ready Reserve, which holds the stipulations that he receive no pay or benefits and is not obligated to drill, conduct annual training, or participate in any military activities until activated by Presidential Reserve Callup Authority.[23] While in the Marines, he was a part of HQ COMPANY 6TH COMM BN 4TH MARDIV, also known as 6th Comm; they are based out of Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn, NY. After a stint with 6th Comm, Sanchez took a position at the New York Public Affairs Office of the Marine Corps.
Section 654 of Title 10, United States Code, states [24] "The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.". Sanchez has stated that he had made it known to the Marine Corps upon enlisting that he had engaged in homosexual activity and had worked as a gay prostitute, and that the Marine Corps allowed him to enlist with that knowledge[25].
According to the Marine Corps Times, Sanchez's stint with the 6th Communications Battalion was short lived; he transfered to IRR status 11 days prior to reaching the 2 year mark, so that he could work with the Public Affairs Office. "Typical Reserve enlistment contracts are eight years, with six spent drilling with a Reserve unit and two in the IRR. Sanchez said he was transferred to non-drilling status early because of a medical problem." The Marine Corps Mobilization Command is currently investigating Sanchez, with regards to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10[26][27]. Sanchez's blog "Cpl. Matt Sanchez" has recently been renamed "Matt Sanchez".
According to an interview with Martha Zoller [28], Sanchez has stated that he will deploy as an embedded civil affairs reporter in May of 2007.
- Zoller: And you will be deployed in May.
- Sanchez: I will be deployed, I will be embedding as a reporter, however, with a civil affairs unit.
- Zoller: Well that's hard work too, everybody fights over there too. Don't say I'll be embedding as a reporter as if that's different.
On his blog, Sanchez has disputed the Marine Corps Times of describing his April embed as a "deployment to Iraq"; he states "The Marine Corps Times wrongfully used the term "deployment" in lieu of "embed", which changed my status from civilian to active duty service member. No reply on a request for a correction.".
Columbia
Sanchez was a student at Columbia in the School of General Studies Class of 2007, where he pursued a degree in American Studies. He has passionately defended veteran rights on campus. In particular, he won approval for the Columbia University War Memorial, a project that will honor all alumni who have fallen in American conflicts since the War for Independence.
Reporting in Iraq
Sanchez is currently embedded as a reporter with American troops in Iraq. He is blogging his journey and working on "In Their Own Words" and "Hometown Heroes", featurettes for his blog, interviewing and heralding soldiers currently serving in Iraq. On the morning of Friday 22 June, he sent a brief email to a large number of contacts with the heading "Greetings from Baghdad". In this message he reassured people that "I'm fine".
Complaints about military bias on Columbia campus
Sanchez became well known after criticizing administration officials for failing to take any action following an incident on campus where members of a socialist student group harassed him at a college activities fair. According to Sanchez, the students said Sanchez was too stupid to realize that the military was taking advantage of him as a minority; the students denied this. Sanchez has since become an an outspoken critic of anti-military bias among students, faculty and administration at Columbia. His media career started with an interview in the Columbia Spectator. After this he appeared on several Fox News television programs, including the O'Reilly Factor and Hannity and Colmes. Sanchez has received support from conservative student groups such as Columbia College Conservative Club and the College Republicans.
Publications
In 2006, Sanchez was elected Editor-in-Chief of "The Observer", the literary magazine of the School of General Studies. Following his trip around the talk-radio circuit, during which he discussed his pornography career, confrontation with anti-military bias on campus, and his military service, Sanchez was invited by the Columbia Political Union to become a blogger for their blog "The Columns".
Adult film career revelation
The first documented instance of Matt Sanchez being recognized as an adult film actor was by the members of a gay porn discussion site ATKOL forums.[29] A poster by the name of 'cutlass' seems to have recognized him in a photograph associated with a Spectator article [30] regarding an alleged anti-military bias incident.
Later, Sanchez attended the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference where Ann Coulter made her infamous "faggot" insult about John Edwards. He received the Jeane Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award and was photographed with Coulter. A number of gay bloggers (including Joe. My. God) recognized Sanchez as a former gay porn star by the name of Rod Majors, as described above. The story, rapidly seized upon by blogs including The Bwog, Datalounge and Gawker, has since been covered by several major news organizations.
When the allegation hit the blogosphere, Sanchez was quick to respond with an op-ed piece he wrote for the liberal-leaning Salon.com blog. Right-wingers David Horowitz (on Front Page Mag) and Michelle Malkin have come out in Sanchez's defense.
WikiCU user Bluemarine has consistently vandalized the Matt Sanchez wiki article as new information is added to the entry, at times deleting entire sections regarding Sanchez's career in gay pornography and as a male escort. The identity of the user is unknown; the Wikipedia user, Bluemarine [31], has identified himself as Matt Sanchez.
On Wikipedia, BlueMarine has heavily edited the page, Wikipedia entry for Matt Sanchez. The page has since been flagged as an autobiography, a violation of Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View policy.
BlueMarine has conducted a lengthy discussion on the talk page: (samples)
- I have PUBLICLY stated that I am NOT a Homosexual REPEATEDLY and yet these fags have never put that into my article, however they have put the "gay hustler" label on me
- I am NOT Puerto Rican. I was born and raised in California and served in the American Military. I am of Puerto Rican origin and resent the label of Puerto Rican as my nationality.
- I have never "admitted" to being an escort and this seems to be a really important point for a lot of very angry gay men.
- Wintersmith: you should insist that the websites "Linked" to me be properly verified and sourced. I believe you'll find that it is pure heresay by the gay jihadist who have become so passionately linked to this pseudo-issue.
- So what is the "clear cut case"? I have seen patently false information by people who are nameless and have no responsibility. Who is Joe-my-god? I have no idea. Who is Ryoung? Would he please identify himself by name? And explain how he has become an expert on my life in three weeks? Or what excellent-top.com has to do with me?
Response to Critics
While Sanchez has touted the level of support he has received from the conservative media, he has been most outspoken about his belief that the gay community of bloggers has sought to slander his name.
- "Okay, there is a current of homophobia involved here or at least self-loathing from the gay community. This is horrible. They are taking a situation and saying, "You're horrible because you suck cock," and frankly, I don't ever remember sucking cock on film, and it is not something that I ever enjoyed. (The left wing) is trying to discredit me because of these sexual acts."- Matt Sanchez- interview with Radar Online[32]
Sanchez has stated in email correspondence that the public revelation about his gay porn career was coordinated by MSNBC. This claim has not yet been verified.
- "This was a coordinated assault on me and an "inside job" from my former "friends" at MSNBC a place where I used to consult, but yet again, that's another story your didn't bother to cover".
Marine Corps investigation
Due to revelations regarding his past, the Marine Corps launched an investigation to determine whether Sanchez had violated any rules or codes through is prior involvement in pornography. In fact, this was just one of the allegations being investigated. Sanchez allegedly solicited more than $12,000 from private organizations by asking them to fund a deployment to Iraq.
According to a Marine Times article, Reserve Col. Charles Jones, a staff judge advocate, informed Sanchez of the allegations against him in an email, which states “Specifically, you wrongfully solicited funds to support your purported deployment to Iraq” by coordinating a $300 payment from the UWVC and $12,000 from U-Haul"[33] Sanchez has responded, stating "I never solicited the money, nor did any money change hands",[34].
Photos
ISO "Wall of Shame"
The image of Matt Sanchez's face on the top left is from Matt Sanchez's blog. The image on the bottom left is from a page called leather.html from the excellent-top.com website. It was retrieved using the web.archive.org site. Note that the two images fit together perfectly. This is proof that Sanchez ran the escort site excellent-top.com.
External links
- Sanchez's blog
- Sanchez's Facercise page
- "Porn Free" Op-Ed by Sanchez
- Reaction from former MilVets VP
- Facebook profile
- Hear Sanchez talk!
- Amazon.com book reviews written by Matthew Sanchez
- Columbia Spectator, Jan 25, 2006: the article that started his media career
- Alleged Manhunt.net profile
- Alleged escort website (NSFW - don't follow this link if you are too young to view adult material)
- "Matt Sanchez" by genealogist Will Johnson, at http://www.countyhistorian.com
- Films featuring Rod Majors
- Films featuring Rod Majors, even more of them
- IMDb profile
- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Dressblues.jpg
External links on the Rod Majors revelation
- Marine Times: Reservist acknowledges gay porn past
- Gay video fans voice their suspicions (in December)
- MSNBC Countdown story
- The Bwog: "Dirty" Sanchez Speaks
- Gawker: Right-Wing Hero Has Porn Past, Claim Gays
- Clip from "Jawbreaker" (NSFW - don't follow this link if you are too young to view adult material)
Interviews with Matt Sanchez
- Radar Online Interview
- (email)Interview with Joe.My.God
- Interview on the Alan Colmes radio show
- Interview from 1998 about his porn career with his director Kristen Bjorn
- Interview with Michelangelo Signorile
- Interview with Martha Zoller part1
- Interview with Martha Zoller part2
- Interview with Dom Giordano 3/8/07
- Interview with Michael Smerconish
- "Interview with Matt McCullough"
- Interview with Hannity & Colmes
Videos
References
- ↑ IAFD listing
- ↑ Kevin McCullough's column
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=23536
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=25876
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=31563
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=35098
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=24110
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=24411
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=29016
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=29432
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=26974
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=29633
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=30474
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=30669
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=30913
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=32973
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=33814
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=36082
- ↑ http://www.bijouworld.com/app/sites/bijou/classic/display.aspx?objid=36246
- ↑ "Porn Free", Salon.com
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20010602153926/www.excellent-top.com
- ↑ Daddy's Reviews website
- ↑ Wikipedia article on Individual Ready Reserve
- ↑ http://web.mit.edu/committees/rotc/code.html
- ↑ http://accessnorthga.com/audio/martha/MattSanchez1.mp3
- ↑ http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/03/mcsanchez070314/
- ↑ http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/03/marine_porn_sanchez_070323/
- ↑ http://accessnorthga.com/audio/martha/MattSanchez1.mp3
- ↑ ATKOL forums, source of the original Matt Sanchez=Rod Majors revelation
- ↑ "A Firm Stance," The Columbia Spectator
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bluemarine
- ↑ http://www.radaronline.com/features/2007/03/matt_sanchez_2.php
- ↑ "Sanchez investigation wraps up today," Marine Times.
- ↑ http://mattsanchez.blogspot.com/2007/03/times-at-marine-corps.html