Matt Sanchez

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Template:Infobox Celebrity Matthew Sanchez (born 1 December 1970) is an American United States Marine reservist, activist and author, a student at Columbia University, and in the 1990s was a performer in pornographic movies under such names as Rod Majors.[1][2] He first started achieving major public notoriety in early 2007, when he made complaints of harassment at Columbia University, against students who called him a "baby killer" for being in the military. He appeared on several television talkshows about the incident, and in March 2007 was awarded the first ever Jeane Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award. At the award ceremony, one of the attendees, conservative columnist Ann Coulter, drew negative attention by referring to presidential candidate John Edwards with a homophobic slur.[3] In the ensuing controversy, it became public knowledge that Sanchez himself had been a performer in homosexual/bisexual[4] adult films in the early 1990s. The story became popular in the blogosphere, especially among homosexual bloggers who insinuated rumors about the details of Sanchez's past.

Biography

Sanchez, who describes himself as being of Puerto Rican origin,[5] was born and raised in San Jose, California, graduating from Independence High School in 1988. After high school, he traveled to England, Italy, France, China, Australia and Spain where he taught English at academias, an informal language center for students.[6] He lived in Quebec in the 1990s, working in the adult entertainment industry both there and in Los Angeles, after which he moved to Germany, where he wrote for publications such as Time Out in Berlin. On September 11th 2001, Sanchez was on board a plane returning from Europe, when his flight was re-routed and the passengers spent several days on an Army base in Halifax, Canada.[7] In 2003, he joined the Marine Corps, where he was trained as an 1161, refrigeration mechanic at Aberdeen, Maryland.[2]. He was later activated to support the shipping of equipment overseas.[8]

Adult film career

In the 1990s, Sanchez worked as a performer in adult films which were primarily targeted towards the homosexual and bisexual market,[9][10] starring in videos for Catalina, Bijoux and Falcon Entertainment. He appeared in Robert Russell a.k.a Kristen Bjorn's Call of the Wild (1992) and Montreal Men (1992) as "Pierre LaBranche",[10] and Idol Country was released in 1997;[1]] (released in 1994), as "Rod Majors". The porn films in which he appeared had original releases no later than 1995;[9] however, scenes from some films have been re-released as part of compilations. The compilation Touched by an Anal a more recent release was in 2006, Mansex Meltdown.[11] Sanchez stated in an interview with Radar Magazine that it "was just the nature of the business, you shoot a lot of films and they use them forever."[12]

Columbia University

Sanchez returned to college, starting at Borough of Manhattan Community College in 2004, and then in 2005 transferring to Columbia University, studying in the School of General Studies.[13] He was elected as editor-in-chief of the The Observer Columbia University's oldest literary journal, and as a reservist in the Marines, focused on promoting veterans' rights on campus, such as working towards approval of the Columbia University War Memorial, a project to honor all alumni who have fallen in American conflicts since the American Revolutionary War.[14] Sanchez is also a contributing columnist to the Columbia Political Union's multi-partisan blog, TheColumns.org, and has recently become a staff writer for the the Columbia Spectator.[15]

Political activism

Sanchez first became known on campus for his pro-military stance. At age 36, while a junior at the university, he stated that he was harassed by on-campus leftists for being in the military, and made public complaints about the situation. He claims that on Activities Day, while he was working at a table representing one organization, members of a student group known as the International Socialist Organization called him various epithets such as "baby-killer" and that he was a stupid minority. Columbia investigated, and while they expressed sympathy for Sanchez's experience, found no grounds for punishing the three accused students.[13] At that point Sanchez took his story to Fox News, and it became a major national media event, with stories on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes[16] and The O'Reilly Factor,[5] and Sanchez receiving support from conservative leaders such as Michelle Malkin and Newt Gingrich.[3] In an article for the Columbia Daily Spectator, "The Conservative Witch Hunt", one of the accused students later disputed Sanchez's allegations.[17]

Matt Sanchez and Ann Coulter in the Fox News Green Room, December 2006. This image was often mistakenly labeled as having been taken at the CPAC event, but was actually from a few months earlier.

Sanchez and other student veterans have also voiced their frustration at what they perceive to be a lack of regard for veterans on the campus, as well as frustration with Columbia's policy against on-campus military recruitment. The university does not permit any organization that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation[18] to recruit on campus.[19] In February of 2006, the university amended its non-discrimination policy to include "military status" as a protected group; replacing the more specific "disabled or Vietnam era veteran".[20]

On March 2, 2007, Sanchez was awarded the Jeane Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award for his work fighting discrimination against military and veterans, at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).[3][21] A featured speaker at the conference, Ann Coulter, made some controversial remarks at the event, referring to presidential candidate John Edwards as a "faggot."[22] This sparked public attention and controversy, during which Sanchez's earlier career as a star in gay porn films was brought to light. The story received a great deal of attention in the blogosphere, where rumors circulated that Sanchez had also been a prostitute, and these rumors were then reported on television, such as during the MSNBC Countdown. Sanchez revealed that Countdown never bothered to contact him before running the television report. Countdown sourced several gay blogs to complete the report, as well as committed left-wing ideologue Max Blumenthal who claimed that Sanchez was apart of a greater "an underground railroad" for fallen gay right-wingers.[3]. Sanchez charges that "gay jihadist" are attempting to smear him.[23]

Sanchez has given conflicting statements about the escorting allegations. In a March 8, 2007 interview with Alan Colmes, when asked if he had worked as a male prostitute during his time in the porn industry, Sanchez replied, "I own up to all of it"[24] In an op-ed piece in Salon.com, Sanchez likened himself to Jeff Gannon and commented, "I won't deny it, or that I acted in several adult movies 15 years ago under names like Pierre LaBranche and Rod Majors."[25] However, on April 9, Sanchez subsequently denied that he had been a male escort, saying, "Not true."[26]

Marine Corps inquiry

On March 16, 2007, John Hoellwarth of the Marine Corp Times reported that the Marine Corps. had received undisclosed allegations on Sanchez for his porn past.[27] A later report by the same writer appeared on April 1, 2007, indicating that Sanchez was also being investigated by the Marine Corps for allegedly soliciting funds from two organizations, the United War Veteran's Council and U-Haul, in order to fund a future deployment to Iraq. Sanchez has denied the charges; calling them "demonstrably false".[27]

Works

References

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External links

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Template:IMDb
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Template:Cite web
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Template:Cite web
  4. ↑ http://www.randythomas.org/blog/2007/04/interview_with_.html
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:Cite web
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named WPHT
  7. ↑ http://matt-sanchez.com
  8. ↑ http://matt-sanchez.com
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Template:Cite web
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Template:Cite web
  11. ↑ Template:Cite web
  12. ↑ Template:Cite web
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Template:Cite web
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Template:Cite web
  15. ↑ http://columbiaspectator.com
  16. ↑ Template:Cite web
  17. ↑ Template:Cite web
  18. ↑ http://johnstanton.vox.com/library/audio/6a00ccff8a7de8673100d41425c4ca6a47.html
  19. ↑ Template:Cite web
  20. ↑ Template:Cite web
  21. ↑ Template:Cite web
  22. ↑ Template:Cite web
  23. ↑ http://www.randythomas.org/blog/2007/04/interview_with_.html
  24. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYWPgHccJNM
  25. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named salon1
  26. ↑ http://johnstanton.vox.com/library/audio/6a00ccff8a7de8673100d41425c4ca6a47.html/%7Ctitle=Matt Sanchez appears on Sirius' The Michelangelo Signorile Show (03/12/07)|accessdate=2007-03-12|publisher=Sirius Radio}}
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Template:Cite web Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "mt:wraps" defined multiple times with different content
  28. ↑ Template:Cite web
  29. ↑ Template:Cite web
  30. ↑ Template:Cite web
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