Former Gay Porn Star Marine Reserve Harassment?

The tale of Matt Sanchez certainly appeals as gossip. Yes, the man (and what a man!) who received the Jeane Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award at the Conservative Political Action Conference this month, and then had his photo taken with Ann Coulter shortly after she called John Edwards a “faggot,” turns out to be a former gay porn star known as Rod Majors who starred in such classic films as "Manticipation", "Forever Hold Your Piece" and "Patriot Ass." It’s enough to make poor old Jeane spin in her grave. This is not mere rumor: Sanchez himself confesses it at Salon and on his blog. Give him credit for being straight-forward about his gay porn past.

But the academic freedom issues here are important. It’s not clear why Sanchez got the award in the first place, since what happened to him never violated his academic freedom as a student at Columbia University. Sanchez claims that a member of the Idiot Socialist Organization called him a “baby killer” and told him that he was stupid to join the military because Hispanics are used for cannon fodder. If true, this comment is stupid and offensive; but it doesn’t even come close to qualifying as harassment. In fact, Sanchez, by seeking to punish and silence his critics through political harassment charges, is guilty of the same kind of conservative censorship being pursued by David Horowitz (at whose conference Sanchez also spoke).

Sanchez may be discovering what real harassment is like. Now that the story has been reported in the Marine Corp Times, will Sanchez be kicked out of the military like 11,000 of his gay military colleagues since “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was created by the cowardly Clinton Administration? The Marines have opened an investigation, and quite frankly, having gay sex on video might qualify as “telling” (whether past gay sex can justify “asking” Sanchez about his current sexual orientation is an interesting legal question).

Sanchez should never have sought to punish fellow students for harshly criticizing him, and his harassment charge was a frivolous one designed to silence public debate. Nevertheless, we should all oppose the Marine witchhunt against him that could destroy his possible future in the military. And the conservatives who defended him against harmless nasty comments should also step up and defend him against a homophobic witchhunt that could destroy his career.