Vincent DeSalvo & Dan Choi: Two Expulsions, One Reason
Vincent DeSalvo, a 22-year-old Randy Blue model who has done scenes with Leo Giamani and Reese Rideout, was expelled from Grove City College, a Christian liberal-arts college in Pennsylvania where he was a senior studying molecular biology. Supposedly committed to "a vision of Christian society transcending denomination, creeds, and confessions," the school has indefinitely expelled Mr. DeSalvo for 1) sexual misconduct, 2) participating in a public display of pornography, and 3) having been engaged in conduct that is contrary to the college's mission and values of and likely to bring it dishonor.
DeSalvo began modeling as a sophomore and worked for two years—leaving on weekends shoot in LA, Miami, and Chicago and earning about $3,000 to $5,000 per scene—before the school found out. "I've paid my entire way through school [doing porn]," DeSalvo said, "and, truth is, if I didn't do porn, I wouldn't be able to [go to school]."On April 24th, another student "discovered" (re: jerked off to) DeSalvo's porn pics and sent them out to some friends. Being a small school, the pic spread a faster than swine flu, and and DeSalvo suddenly had hate mails from about 150 student (roughly 6% of the school's entire student population).
DeSalvo can return to the college in fall 2010 if he promises to quit porn, but a majority of the student population have been openly hostile to him on-campus (some have thrown food at him in the cafeteria). He fears that "a bigoted prejudiced group [might] want to do something worse." The school's indefinite expulsion goes beyond the punishment usually metted out for the listed offenses, which the bisexual DeSalvo accounts to his doing gay porn. An appeal of the school's decision seems unlikely and it's also uncertain whether DeSalvo would even feel comfortable if he did return to campus. The story's been big news in the gay porn blogosphere, but there's no mention of it on the school's news and media page, which is too bad, because they could have run THIS:
Personally, we at QC hate seeing news items like this. We too keep our identities hidden in fear of similar discrimination. Remember Fratmen wrestler, Paul Donahoe expelled from University of Nebraska and Kurt Wild fired from Subway. We understand why a private Christian college might might not want to bestow a degree to an unrepentant cocksucker. But Jesus hung out with whores! Mary Magdalen ring a bell? The rest of his time, Baby J hung out with the 12 men he asked to leave their wives to follow him around. We're not saying Jesus was(n't) queer, we're just saying, if a gay sex worker wanted to study alongside him, he'd probably embrace that person into the flock rather than cast them out.
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It's no small irony that this news breaks on the same day as another auspicious gay dismissal—that of Lieutenant Dan Choi, an Arabic linguist Westpoint grad who served twice in Iraq. Choi has been dismissed from the National Guard for "for moral or professional dereliction... [that] negatively affected the good order and discipline" of his fellow soldiers. How did he do this, you ask? By announcing his homosexuality on a political talk show; in open defiance of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy banning gays from the U.S. military. Like DeSalvo, he plans to fight his dismissal.
Vincent and Dan exist at two ends of a persecuted homosexual continuum—one, a reviled social pariah for acting out his sexual instincts on film and the other, a reviled social pariah for acting out his sexual instincts in private. The only openly gay American Episcopal bishop, Gene Bishop, recently said he believes that the religious right is 95% responsible for LGBT oppression. The U.S. Military is hardly a non-religious institution and though anti-gay supporters of the gay military ban regularly cite sexual come-ons as the number one threat to unit cohesion, in the end, such expulsions are only about a useless concept of morality intended to shame gays for their sexual desires and remove them from society at large.
Thanks to XBIZ and Slog. WYTV conducted a great interview with Vincent DeSalvo. We've also created a Vincent DeSalvo QC Fan Page—check it out.
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Reader Comments
Your 2¢, in chronological order — add your comment below.
It's always been a misunderstanding the Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, because it was implied that she was a woman of means....
There is no indication that she was a prostitute or a whore.
Everyone should get over the porn thing. With all the amateur websites, explicit personal ads, live camera feeds out there as well as all the cellphone pic swapping going on these days, we'll ALL be porn stars by 2015.
I always hate hearing stories like Vincent's, but...........come on Vincent, don't you think that working in porn to pay your way through a CHRISTIAN college, was setting you up for just this? You would be best served by just finishing your degree at another non-Christian school. The battle is not worth your time and it is one that you will not will. I will say that I am soooooooooooooooooooo jealous that you got to get fucked by Leo!
Who goes to a Christian college to learn molecular biology? Wouldn't the lesson consist of: "It is a sin to even inquire about DNA. Biology works because God says so, it is magic. Take in on faith. Students be sure and pick up your holy prayer cloth felt squares at the campus bookstore."
I would also imagine asking a prof a question about restriction enzymes only to have him start speaking in tongues and rolling on the floor because he doesn't know the answer.
It's important to remember what a religion is. Sure Vincent can be a Christian and be gay, even make gay porn. But he is breaking the rules. You can't change the rules of the game just to make everybody who wants to play win. Just because Jesus was able to see the good in people, doesn't mean they had his blessing to continue with the bad things in their lives. And, let's face it, if you're gonna judge someone's general character and personality, knowing that he or she has sex for money (porn star, prostitute, male prostitutes doing porn, whatever) probably won't cause people to also think he or she is living out other Christian virtues like self-control, faithfulness, etc. . .
In other words, if my car is black and yours is white, don't change the definition of white just so I can be in the People with White Cars Club.
Aside from the religious/sexual discrimination issues...
I'd like to remind readers: that college applicants rarely are given the option of going to the college of their choice.
This might have been a 'safety' he ended up with, as it was the only college that accepted his application.
Should expulsion occur, it means he will not be capable of taking most of his credits with him to another institution. Thus, have another year worth of courses AND added tuition on top of what he already spent.
That is IF the new college he attends accepts the majority of General Ed courses in his transcript. Policies are different between Universities. Some are generous and some are not.
While the most of you are correct - he cannot win a lawsuit against a private institution over rules of conduct they establish... he CAN possibly win a civil lawsuit over tuition lost. At least that won't be a complete waste. He will be able to use that money towards another college that culturally will suit him better. Public schools are just as good as the private colleges, and in some cases better. University of Pittsburgh has a medical school and would be better for his major - which I think is Biology or something... Penn State too.
An in-state Public College will have reduced tuition for him and (compared to private) is likely to accept most of his earned credits. Like I suggest, he should move forward with a civil lawsuit for tuition lost over courses that do not transfer. He should cut his losses and move forward with his life. The lawsuit itself would take another added year on top of what he needs to do in order to graduate.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell is pretty straight-forward. If you ask, you're kicked out, if you tell, your kicked out of the service. Choi deserved what he got. And how does he think he's got a chance when the rule is pretty simple. You break the rule, suffer the consequences.
If Choi wanted to change the rules, he should talk to his Congressmen; the people that can actually effect change instead of going on a rant about how unfair the DODT policy is, especially on national TV.
Do us all a favor Choi, get the F*** out of the military. We don't need people crying and bitching about things they know will not change. Disclosure: I am happily living double lives in the military. I do it because I place serving my country (for however many years) over my personal freedoms.
People, start talking to your elected officials. They make the rules, they change the rules. The military like any other government agency, just follows policies handed down to them from higher up.
Gage: right, all rules are valid just because they exist.