Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Don’t Make Porn Films 

Sanchez claims that his porn work was just a job, that he is not gay, and that he is now a conservative, patriotic Marine who regrets his past actions. In a piece he wrote for Salon.com, he claims that porn “reduces the mind, flattens the soul.”  He could be telling the truth as not everyone in gay porn is actually gay (in the industry it’s called “gay for pay”) and people change all the time. 

I n any case, Sanchez seems to be enjoying his newfound public persona. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows where he talks about his life. He writes frequently on his blog about a host of issues. There is no chance, however, that Sanchez will become the next William F. Buckley, as most of his posts are naive, ill informed, and silly (on March 31, 2007 he wrote about the transgender “menace” on television). In all likelihood San- chez is a serial exhibitionist—porn was great for a while, now he is fashioning himself into a conservative pundit with a backstory as an ex-porn star and current Marine. 

So the hypocrisy here rests with the likes of O’Reilly, Sean Han- nity, and Ann Coulter—with whom Sanchez had his photo taken at the early-March Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) where she made her infamous “faggot” remark about John Edwards. It is interesting that they have not yet denounced Sanchez. When they have spoken about him, it is with the ring of redemption, although they have certainly not taken him in as a comrade-in-arms. 

But it is also true that they have not grappled with the complications of Sanchez’s predicament. The military’s “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy may very well mandate that Sanchez be forced to leave the Marine Corps he claims to love so much. A recent article in the Marine Corps Times , while vaguely sympathetic, indicates that it might. It would be simple and easy for progressives to say “good, who cares”—why should anyone join the army—but keep in mind that, while the gay rights movement campaign to get rid of the “don’t ask/don’t tell” is unfortunately implicitly pro-U.S. military, it is also addressing the sometimes deadly physical and psychological violence that open and closeted gay people experience in the armed forces.  

But Matt Sanchez and his career in the Marines is really a side issue. The more complicated question is how do we as a nation deal with the fact that our elected leaders, people in the news, and even our heroes, often act in embarrassing ways. The gay bloggers who excoriated Sanchez (and Newt, and Ted, and Mel) have always held Bill Clinton up to a different standard. Progressives are far more willing to understand and forgive Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King for their extra-marital actions than they are to give Newt Gingrich a pass on essentially the same behavior. Certainly in this context, Matt Sanchez acted moderately well—not denying his actions, but saying that he regretted them—than did many others. 

S ure, part of this is just a political game—progressives will revel in Gingrich’s or Sanchez’s admissions and conservatives will continue to paint Clinton and Jackson as evil philanderers, but that doesn’t really move us forward. The once completely secure boundaries between public and private have seriously shifted. We now understand that what public people do in their private lives matters, just as we now have a far more lenient attitude toward the folly of human behavior. This is complicated and progressives are understandably driven crazy when former gay porn stars take the “high road” of right- wing politics or when Gingrich happily commits adultery at the same time as he is castigating Clin- ton for similar actions. 

In the end these continual back and forth retaliations are debilitating and beside the point. All of these actions, not surprisingly, are sexual in nature. Maybe it’s time that we stop pretending there is a traditional standard of sexual behavior—invariably involving monogamy, “family values,” not acting in porn films—on which we all agree and on which we insist on judging public figures. There is nothing wrong with judging people on ethical standards, but let’s apply those standards consistently, and to ourselves as well. 

Z  

Michael Bronski teaches at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps (St. Martin’s Press).