Republican activist defends porn career

By Alexis Hood • March 9, 2007 - 15:26

“I don't like porn, it reduces the mind, flattens the soul,“ Sanchez wrote on his blog and on Salon.com.

1 Comment on Republican activist defends porn career

An ex gay porn performer seems to have repented his wicked ways - with a vengeance.

Marine Corporal Matt Sanchez, formerly known as 'Rod Majors' and 'Pierre LaBranche,' has expressed conservative views about his eventful past.

"I don't like porn, it reduces the mind, flattens the soul," Sanchez wrote on his blog and on Salon.com.

"That's not hypocrisy talking, that's experience… I can tell you that by the time I finished my summer tour of major studios, I was pretty disgusted with myself.

"I've moved forward a lot and this past stuff is not something I want to drag into my future," Sanchez, 36, told blogger Joe.My.God. in an email interview.

Gay bloggers outed the right-wing Marine reservist after he appeared at the weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference, alongside such stalwarts as Ann Coulter, who outraged American when she called former US Senator John Edwards a "faggot."

The CPAC was attended by many of the 2008 Republican Presidential candidates.

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee attended, as did Vice President Dick Cheney.

According to Sanchez, any gayness of his own has long since fled, along with his porn past.

"Boyfriends: 0 Fiance: 2 Wife: 1. I'd say I'm pretty bad at being gay," he told Joe.My.God.

MSNBC's Countdown show leapt on these revelations on Wednesday night.

They showed heavily censored stills of Sanchez's alter egos Pierre and Rod, alongside clips of his appearances on right-wing shows like The O'Reilly Factor.

Liberals have slammed Sanchez for hypocrisy.

The Nation's Max Blumenthal told MSNBC, "It doesn't matter, inherently, that he was a gay porn star.

"What matters is that he's a hypocrite who's advancing the ideological homophobia of the right and helping them exploit this homophobia for political gain."

Most right-wingers have preserved a dignified silence, but not so O'Reilly's Fox colleague Michelle Malkin, who said that the "hate-filled liberals on MSNBC" have "attempted to smear" Sanchez, whilst ignoring the "pernicious effects of the pornography industry on the soul."

The hapless Sanchez fumed to Joe.My.God that, "there's something about the beleaguered gay psyche that wants to prove to the world that everyone is just as messed up as they are.

"So they start off with the term 'hypocrite' and work their way backwards looking for signs of deviant behaviour in hopes of discovering some type of bastard kinship.

"That's why I've had the term 'self-loathing' thrown at me so often. The gay community eats its own in a frenzied hope of self-serving fulfilment."

Share this story with the world These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.