Matt Sanchez

Matt Sanchez and Ann Coulter at CPAC

See also Wikipedia's article about "Matt Sanchez".

Corporal Matthew Sanchez, or Matt Sanchez, (b. 1 December 1970), GS '07, was a student in the School of General Studies. He has also been a porn star and a corporal in the United States Marine Corps (currently a reservist). Sanchez speaks Spanish, French and German.

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 acted in some 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] claims to have briefly dated Sanchez in 1989, but offered no proof. Sanchez has said he has never met Andy Towle and that a lot of people have recently made the same claim.

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. . 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".

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." 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." 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.

To date, no one has claimed to have actually hired Matt Sanchez as an escort.

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).

He has stated in interviews that he worked in Hollywood pitching films, and also worked on the show "Angel" for the WB.

In an interview with Bwog, Sanchez stated that he had previously worked for the NYPD's division of Counter-Terrorism and was issued a security clearance.

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. 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 "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.

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. Sanchez's blog "Cpl. Matt Sanchez" has recently been renamed "Matt Sanchez".

According to an interview with Martha Zoller , 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 is currently a student at Columbia in the School of General Studies Class of 2007, pursuing 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

Matt Sanchez 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".

Reporting from Afghanistan

Matt Sanchez reporting from Afghanistan.

Matt Sanchez became the war correspondent for Worldnetdaily and sent several dispatches from the frontlines, including an air assault in the Taliban zone of Khandahar.[3]

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. A poster by the name of 'cutlass' seems to have recognized him in a photograph associated with a Spectator article 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.

BlueMarine has conducted a lengthy discussion on the talk page: 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

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" Sanchez has responded, stating "I never solicited the money, nor did any money change hands"..

A sample report

Photos

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  Sanchez on the Columbia campus

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  ISO "Wall of Shame"

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  The image of Matt Sanchez's face. This is proof that someone used Sanchez' pictures on excellent-top.com.

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  Back Cover of "Facercise for Men" which features Sanchez.

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  Matt Sanchez as commentator on Kiosque French Language program.

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  Matt Sanchez in the No Spin Zone, on the O'Reilly Factor.

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  Regular guest of Redeye at the Fox News Channel.

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  Matt Sanchez with Sheik Sattar, the man credited with the Anbar Awakening. Sattar was assassinated days after this photo.

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)

In Their Own Words

Sanchez radio dispatches from Iraq and Afghanistan

• Navy Corpsman describes the snipping of a Marine, in Fallujah
• Final Mission, Matt Sanchez with 96th Trucking Unit, on the Kuwait-Iraq border.

Interviews with Matt Sanchez

• Radar Online Interview
• (email)Interview with Joe.My.God
• Interview on the Alan Colmes radio show
• 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
• Matt Sanchez with "gay jihadi" calls in. Colmes admits phone number in Gay publication was not Sanchez

Videos

• Rod Majors in Man to Men
• Rod Majors in Built Tough
• Matt Sanchez in Iraq

References