This seems like a slippery slope.
This week, the Utah Pride organizing committee decided, unanimously, to prevent the porn site MormonBoyz.com from being a part of the 2016 Pride festivities this June. Despite being a gay owned/operated business – which also fully owns up to being a satirical porny take on the LDS church and not some sort of diabolical criticism of faith – and filling out the appropriate application paperwork, the guys behind MormonBoyz were told the committee had “unanimously agreed that the specific type of business” they run is not something the committee would “feel comfortable having in the Utah Pride Parade or as a vendor at the festival.”
Yikes.
The committee went on to state that they had to be aware of the “community” (which sounds a lot like “church” when you read it that way) and that their business did “not represent a part of that community.”
I’m pretty sure you don’t get to decide what adult businesses get to be part of Pride based just on being scared of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Or I guess maybe you do, since that seems to be what’s happening. Which sucks. You can read the official reply of the folks behind MormonBoyz.com below, or just go check out their site for yourself. If they’re being excluded from stuff, we may as well throw ’em some traffic to make up for it.
April 11, 2016
Dear Utah Pride Committee and Board Members of the Utah Pride Center,
On April 7, 2016, several days after approving our application to participate in Utah Pride, we received a shocking email from the Pride Center Board not only revoking our approval to participate in Utah Pride but rejecting us a part of the LGBT community itself.
“We unanimously agreed that the specific type of business that you run is not something we feel comfortable having in the Utah Pride Parade or as a vendor at the festival. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. We do have to be aware of the community that we live in and that we are a part of. We feel that your specific business does not represent a part of that community,” read the hurtful and dismissive email we received from the Utah Pride Center.
I beg to differ. [My husband and I — WE] ARE a part of the Utah LGBT community. The Utah Pride Center claims to represent ALL elements of Utah’s LGBT community. [Yet, with this action, you are acting as agents of the LDS church – enforcing a sex-negative, hypocritical and, frankly, homophobic view of what it is to be gay and Mormon.]
Unfortunately, you are continuing a long tradition of oppressing the sex-positive and sexually expressive members of our community. The “Dykes on Bikes” were pushed to the back of the parade and told to be more “feminine.” Proud leather men were asked to less visible and pretend they were someone they are not. Drag queens and effeminate men were told to “straighten up” and not embarrass the white heteronormative men who have traditionally dominated our community’s leadership. Now the same is being done to us. This is nothing less than censorship and self-hatred.
We are Utahn, born and raised in the Mormon faith. We are queer Mormon Utahns and part of this community, no matter what you say. And we are a strong, vibrant, sex-positive part of that community. We will not be shamed into hiding our sexuality to appease the more assimilationist elements of our community who kowtow to the sexually repressive and homophobic demands of the LDS church.
With our businesses, MormonBoyz.com, MormonGirlz.com and MormonsSecret.com, we embrace our gay Mormon identity and history. And we are not alone. We have thousands of customers who reside in Utah and other states with large Mormon populations – and hundreds of thousands of fans.
To say we are not part of the Utah LGBT community is ridiculous on its face.
Let us be clear, we are not asking Utah Pride to endorse our company. We are merely seeking to be one of the hundreds of vendors and community members who have a booth at the festival and/or a presence in the parade.
It is very common for porn companies and adult businesses to be represented at Pride parades in cities around the country — and rightly so! Affirming the sexual desires and behavior of LGBT people is a large part of what Pride has always been about. CockyBoys.com in New York to Men.com in Atlanta to NextDoor Studios in Los Angeles to Falcon Studios in Chicago, to name a few, but the examples go on and on. What could possibly be a better example of Salt Lake City’s gay pride than a gay-and lesbian-owned and operated businesses called MormonBoyz.com and MormonGirlz.com? Our community is mature enough to be exposed to an adult business with a Mormon-theme. They do not need a censor to protect them.
So is Salt Lake a big, diverse, inclusive city, or is it a backwards little town controlled by a local church?
We are happy to comport with any reasonable standards the committee puts forth for Parade participants. We will not, of course, be projecting sex videos, handing out pornography to minors, or indulging in public nudity. What exactly is the committee afraid we might say or do?
We are a fun, sexy and satirical company that not only celebrates the inherent homoeroticism of the Mormon missionary experience, but also satirizes the hypocrisy and repression of the LDS church – perhaps the most powerful and aggressive opponent of LGBT equality in America today. Historically, the Utah LGBT Center have/has done many great things for our community. But, by excluding us from Pride you are siding with that oppressor, doing their bidding, enforcing their repressive, homophobic, and transphobic views of our community.
We hope that your revocation of our approved application and your dismissal of us as a part of the LGBT community was a momentary lapse of judgment. I am certain that a large majority of the LGBT community, both in Utah and across the globe, will be outraged by the actions of the Center’s Board of Directors.
We hope you will reconsider. We would love to play an active and positive role at Utah Pride, celebrating our gay sexuality, not sanitizing it or hiding it in shame.
Sincerely,
LeGrand & Paul
Owners and Creative Directors
MormonBoyz.com | MormonGirlz.com | MormonsSecret.com
It’s all or nothing, folks. You don’t get to say one kind of adult company can play but not the ones you don’t agree with. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next few months.
I’m gonna be over here jackin’ it to cute LDS dudes while we wait.
– tyler
Not that LDS will accept gay people any time soon; as a church they do have a history of revising their doctrine to suit political purposes -ie polygamy, black skin as a mark of Cain for instance. I do understand Utah pride in barring this group as it feeds into the church’s worst nightmare of enticing their young men into what they see as a life of depravity ..
It’s interesting though that the commentary is that MormonBoyz is pushing LDS as its own ‘life of depravity.’ All of their scenes take place within the rituals and confines of church life.
There’s a part of me that understands not wanting to associate Pride with something like that. But I think they need to come up with a stronger argument than ‘ew, we don’t like that.’ Maybe ban any adult brands from participating if you’re going to go down that road.
Please don’t take it the wrong way, The, but assuming that there is s parody gay porn niche production called Nazibois and all they have in their collection is b&m stuffs with the Nazibois in uncut dicks fucking, and ‘dominating’ circumcised dicks begging for more, and they want pride parade in Berlin, would you think the gay pride committee would just approve it, just because…?
Not The, but Ty. Hate autocorrect…
I don’t think that’s a fair comparison. I don’t see Mormon Boyz as any different than the “Scandal at the Vatican” series that Bel Ami pulled off last year (and I think actually made a sequel to, because it was so successful). It’s satire. It isn’t legitimate commentary on the church or believers. But this secular organization is offended by it and wants to ban MB’s participation because they find it personally distasteful.
My point was that if they’re going to go down that road, they need to do it whole hog and make a policy about adult brands. Not just pick and choose what they like. Does that make sense?
Also – there’s no shortage of skinhead/nazi porn online, if that’s your thing. I just don’t write about it here because it’s not usually very well made. ?
I don’t think it’s that cut and dry the pride organisation hates Mormon boyz. It’s a niche studio that does ONLY Mormon fetish stuff (some are really hot I must say), but a few ad hoc ‘Vatican scandal’ episodes are quite different. Like sometimes studios do a inter generational fetish theme like son fucks step dad, step bros, in laws etc, but they have other themes. Utah has a very high Mormon community, so I actually think the organisation is right to err on the side of caution. Just my take, please spank me (waves butt suggestively at Ty)…
I know this is a serious post but I just wanted to highlight one of their models. It’s “President Oaks”. This is him poundin a youngin. He also fucks girls on the MormonGirlz site. He is my hero.
The guy jacking off is a hottie.
“I’m pretty sure you don’t get to decide what adult businesses get to be part of Pride based just on XYZ reason…”
I’m pretty sure they do. And I don’t disagree with them. I am not what anyone would consider a religious person, but religious themed porn is incredibly disturbing because it’s a visual performance of someone’s religious hangups. Gay pride needs to be a positive day, and one that moves a positive message forward. It shouldn’t be about mocking someone else’s religious beliefs.
He’s also doing girls at that straight site. Looks like MormonBoyz has a lot of gay4payers.
Hes fine, but much better with girls, his gay scenes lack of chemistry and naturalness, so I guess guys are not his thing
I totally get what you’re saying, and personally, I understand the committee’s position as well. I just don’t think excluding one adult brand is a fair way to go about it. Either no adult brands/studios participate, or you let all of them. I don’t know. Will be interesting to see what comes of it.
I like everything about this.
Agreed.
Any scene of his in particular I should check out there? I hate to go through the whole catalog to look for the good stuff.